North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
#11 North Carolina
#8 Wolfpack Prepped for #11 Tar Heels Coming to Town
1/21/2026 2:21:00 PM | Wrestling
RALEIGH – Eighth-ranked NC State wrestling returns home as it looks to capture the 13th consecutive win over the Tar Heels. The alumni night dual with 11th-ranked North Carolina will take place in Reynolds Coliseum at 7 p.m. on Friday.
Dual-Meet Info
• Start time for the dual is 7 p.m. at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, N.C.
• The dual will be streamed on ACCNX here with commentary by Nick Gwiazdowski and Andrew Sanders.
• Admission tickets for the event can be purchased here.
• It's alumni night! All alumni are encouraged to come for the in-match alumni recognition.
Probable Match-Ups
#8 NC State vs. #11 North Carolina
125 | #1 Vincent Robinson OR Brad Yokum vs. #15 Kysen Terukina
133 | Troy Hohman OR Zach Redding vs. #18 Ethan Oakley
141 | #12 Ryan Jack vs. #17 Luke Simcox
149 | #5 Koy Buesgens vs. Nate Askew
157 | Luca Felix OR Brogan Tucker vs. #28 Laird Root
165 | #16 Will Denny vs. #10 Bryce Hepner
174 | #5 Matty Singleton vs. Collin Carrigan
184 | Don Cates vs. #13 Jake Dailey
197 | #27 Patrick Brophy OR Cason Howle vs. #33 Robert Platt
285 | #2 Isaac Trumble vs. #28 Nolan Neves
*Individual rankings according to InterMat (1/20/26)
A Win On Friday Would…
• Be the 805th win in program history (804-491-19)
• Be the 270th win in Popolizio's head coaching career (269-89-2)
• Be Popolizio's 189th victory at NC State (188-37)
• Be the 65th win over the Tar Heels (64-62-3)
Series History
• Friday evening's dual marks the 130th meeting between the Wolfpack and the Tar Heels.
• The two last met in 2025 in Chapel Hill, which resulted in a 19-16 victory for the Pack. NC State has claimed the last 12 match-ups between the two programs. North Carolina last won in 2013 in Pat Popolizio's first season at the helm of the Pack.
Wolfpack Wrestler Highlights
• Sixth-year veteran No. 2 Isaac Trumble (Hwt) has been dominating his final year of eligibility since being cleared from his knee injury that occurred back at NCAAs in March. In just nine matches, he has claimed seven bonus point wins and two wins over ranked opponents, most notably over No. 3 Nick Feldman of Ohio State in Columbus.
• Redshirt-sophomore No. 5 Koy Buesgens (149 lbs) has been on a tear this season, climbing to his highest-ever individual ranking in his second season in the lineup. The Minnesota native went 10-0 to start the season before losing to Ohio State's #6 Ethan Stiles by one point. He is now sitting at 16-1 with three top-10 wins.
• Freshman phenom No. 16 Will Denny (165 lbs) has put himself on the map after upsetting No. 5 Ryder Downey of UNI at the National Duals Invitational to start the year. Denny is on a nine-match win streak, which includes a win over No. 11 Paddy Gallagher of Ohio State.
• Redshirt-junior No. 5 Matty Singleton (174 lbs) is sitting at a 11-1 record this season with six ranked wins, with his only loss being to a top-five opponent.
Quick Notes
• The program started the season in the top 10 of the NWCA preseason rankings, marking the at least the ninth consecutive season to do so (records going to 2017-18 season).
• On InterMat, seven wrestlers are ranked in their respective weight classes, with four of them in the top 10, headlined by Isaac Trumble at No. 2 at heavyweight, coming off his All-American, fourth-place finish season.
• The roster boasts seven NCAA Qualifiers, featuring one national champion, and four All-Americans.
Around the ACC
• The ACC holds five teams ranked nationally in the top-25 (No. 7 Virginia Tech, No. 8 NC State, No. 11 North Carolina, No. 14 Pittsburgh, and No. 24 Stanford). There are seven teams total with wrestling programs in the ACC.
• NC State looks to take back the ACC title this season after sharing the regular season honors with Virginia Tech and North Carolina and finishing third at the championship tournament. Prior to that, the ACC trophy lived in Raleigh for six consecutive seasons 2019-2024.
• The Wolfpack is the only ACC team to feature more than one wrestler in the top-five of their respective weight classes according to InterMat (125 #5 Robinson, 149 #5 Buesgens, 174 #5 Singleton, 285 #2 Trumble). In total, 11 ACC wrestlers are found in the top-10 with NC State featuring the majority of that group with four.
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Players Mentioned
