The Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational is sort of like the NCAA tournament. Sort of.

This weekend, the ISU wrestling team will gear up and travel to Las Vegas to compete against some of the highest-ranked teams in the country. Of the 33 teams competing, 12 are ranked in the top 25 by the National Wrestling Coaches Association, including Iowa State.

Making things more interesting, the Cliff Keen Invitational includes several teams the Cyclones are slated to face in duals later in the season. No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 12 Northern Iowa, Rutgers and Arizona State all appear on the back end of the Cyclones’ schedule.

With a tournament of this magnitude approaching, ISU coach Kevin Jackson said addressing problem areas have been the team’s focus following Sunday’s 23-9 loss to No. 3 Iowa.

“We try to make sure that our guys have an opportunity to recover from the Iowa training and the Iowa match and are fresh in mind, fresh in body and address areas of concentration to make sure that when those must-win positions hit in Vegas, you react the right way to them,” Jackson said. “It’s all a process. I want to see gains. I want to see us win some of the positions that you saw in the Iowa match.”

Competition will be stiff with several highly-ranked wrestlers at each weight class. At least one top-5 wrestler will be competing at every weight class, including No. 1 Logan Stieber, of Ohio State, at 141 pounds and Andrew Howe, of Oklahoma, at 174 pounds.

All-Americans Kyven Gadson and Michael Moreno are ranked No. 3 and No. 4 at 197 and 165, respectively, for the Cyclones. For Gadson, the talented field provides extra motivation.

“[It’s] something that everybody on the team looks forward to, just a chance to knock off someone people that you don’t think you can beat,” Gadson said. “Just get a chance to boost your self-confidence. It’s good to go against those type of teams earlier in the season and feel those guys out because we’ll be seeing a lot of them later in the season.”

Redshirt freshman Lelund Weatherspoon has compiled a 10-2 record heading into the Cliff Keen Invitational. Weatherspoon said the size of the tournament shouldn’t affect the team’s performance, and rankings aside, it’s business as usual.

“I try to look at it as just a regular tournament, so why not go out and wrestle your best like you’re supposed to,” Weatherspoon said.