CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The No. 11 Fighting Illini start 2017 with their first Big Ten duals of the season, as the team wrestles at No. 13 Rutgers on Friday at 6 p.m. central time, and then competes at Maryland on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. Both matches will be streamed live on BTN Plus.

	#11 Illinois at #13 Rutgers
When	Friday, January 6 // 6 p.m. CT
Where	Rutgers Athletic Center (RAC) // New Brunswick, NJ
Follow Live	Live Results
Watch	Live Stream (BTN Plus)
Team Information	Illinois Match Notes | Season Stats | Illinois Media Guide
Social Media	@IlliniWrestling  | #Illini | @Illinwrestling  | Facebook | YouTube

	#11 Illinois at Maryland
When	Sunday, January 8 // 10 a.m. CT
Where	XFINITY Center // College Park, Md
Follow Live	Live Results
Watch	Live Stream (BTN Plus)
Team Information	Illinois Match Notes | Season Stats | Illinois Media Guide
Social Media	@IlliniWrestling  | #Illini | @IlliniWrestling  | Facebook | YouTube

Match Probables

Quick Hits

*The Illini are a combined 5-0 all-time against Rutgers and Maryland. Illinois beat Rutgers 24-9 in the two school's only meeting in Champaign two seasons ago. Illinois also owns a perfect 4-0 record against Maryland, the last victory coming in College Park, MD in 2007.

*Five Illini are currently ranked in their respective weight classes according to Intermat: #4 Zane Richards (12-1), #1 Isaiah Martinez (12-0), #12 Zac Brunson (17-3), #14 Emery Parker (16-3) #17 Brooks Black (5-3). The team checks in at No. 11 in the latest Intermat dual rankings.  

*Isaiah Martinez officially qualified for Illinois' all-time win percentage record, overtaking Matt Lackey (0.896) with his record of 76-1 (.987). Lackey tallied 120 wins in 134 matches for a 0.896 win-percentage from 2000-03. Zane Richards (93-20) sits in 9th place on the all-time win-percentage list with a .823 mark. 

*Redshirt senior Zane Richards entered the school's top-25 wins list in his first match of the 54th Midlands. His 26-8 tech fall over Ben Lamantia was the 91st of his career, tying Tony Dallago, Kirk Azinger and Seth Brady. Richards passed the trio of former Illini with a 21-5 tech fall of Jacob Colon in round three and finished the tournament with 94 career wins.

*The Orange and Blue picked up six victories over ranked opponents over the course of the two-day Midlands tournament, including two upsets of higher ranked wrestlers. Martinez and Brunson both picked up a pair of ranked wins, while Parker and Piotrowski netted upset victories.

*True freshman Travis Piotrowski earned his first win over a ranked opponent with a 7-2 upset of #18 LJ Bentley in round two at Midlands.

Series History

The Orange and Blue own a perfect 5-0 combined record against the Big Ten's newest members, having only wrestled Rutgers since the two schools joined in 2014.

Rutgers: ILL leads series 1-0; last meeting 2015

Illinois will wrestle Rutgers for just the second time in program history, the first coming two years agao in Champaign when the Illini defeated the Scarlett Knights 24-9.

Maryland: ILL leads series 4-0; last meeting 2006

The Illini hold a 4-0 all-time record against Maryland, all of which came prior to the Terripins joining the conference. The most recent meeting came when the Illini won 26-10 in College Park on January 13, 2007.

Weight Classes to Watch: at Rutgers

125

A pair of true freshmen will dual at 125 pounds on Friday evening, both coming off some success in the season's opening two months. Illinois' Travis Piotrowski, the 2016 IHSA Class 2A state champion at 126 pounds, is 8-6 overall in his first year with the Illini and went 2-2 at Midlands last week. Piotrowski's top win came in round two at Midlands when he upset sixth-seeded L.J. Bentley (Pittsburgh) by a 7-2 decision. Rutger's will send out Brandon Paetzell, who was ranked the No. 62 overall recruit by Intermat and No. 4 at 120 pounds, is 9-3 this season. The Phillipsburg, N.J. native already has a Big Ten victory under his belt, a 12-4 major decision of Alex Vargas (Maryland) back on December 11.

184

It's the only matchup on Friday that will feature two ranked grapplers, as the Illini's No. 14 Emery Parker takes on No. 11 Nicholas Gravina. Parker (16-3) is a first-year starter for Coach Heffernan's squad and is second on the team in wins. Despite dropping his final two matches at Midlands, Parker upset No. 13 Jordan Ellingwood (Central Michigan) by way of a pin (5:37) in round two. On the season, Parker owns 12 bonus-point victories. Gravina, a 2016 NCAA Championships qualifier and Big Ten placewinner will oppose the Illini redshirt sophomore. At Midlands last week, the Rutgers redshirt junior placed sixth with a 4-2 record, including an 8-2 decision over All-American Pete Renda. Gravina is 5-1 in dual meets this season, including 1-0 against Big Ten opponents.

133

Although second place at Midlands is nothing to write off, Illinois' Zane Richards will be looking for a bounceback performance this weekend after dropping the Midlands title bout to No. 4 Eric Montoya. Richards (12-1) entered Illinois' all-time career wins list during the Midlands tournament, sitting at No. 25 with 94 victories. The Illini senior could tie Nate Patrick for 24th with victories at Rutgers and Maryland. Richards will be pitted against Scott DelVecchio (13-5) or Tyson Dippery (12-3). DelVecchio placed sixth at Midlands and has a 3-0 record in dual action, while Dippery is coming off of a 4-2 record at Midlands and is 3-1 in dual competition. 
 

Weight Classes to Watch: at Maryland

149

Filling in for Brock Ervin this weekend will be redshirt freshman Eric Barone (2-2). Barone is coming off a 1-2 record at Midlands and will wrestle Maryland's lone ranked wrestler, #12 Alfred Bannister. A redshirt sophomore, Bannister is 17-3 on the season, including a perfect 7-0 in dual matches and four wins over ranked opponents.
 

157

Maryland lists two potential wrestlers at the weight class in redshirt junior Justin Alexander (5-2) and redshirt freshman Danny Boychuck (13-7). For Illinois, Kyle Langenderfer (12-3) will look to get back on track after a 2-2 record at Midlands. Prior to the holiday tournament, Langenderfer had won 10 straight matches after dropping his first match of the season. This is the Mokena, Illinois native's first season after 157 pounds after wrestling at 149 last season.
 

Illini Notes

Zane Enters All-Time Wins List

Zane Richards' four wins at Midlands moved him into the Illinois all-time wins list, surpassing three former Illini that finished their careers with 91 wins. Current Illini Zac Brunson (92) and Isaiah Martinez (79) are both on pace to enter the list as well.
 

I-Mar All-Time Win Percentage Leader

With Martinez's first match at Midlands was the 75th of his career, making him eligible for the Illinois all-time win percentage list. Upon entering the list, the Illini redshirt junior took over as the record holder with a .987 win percentage. Richards also ranks in the top-10 of the list with a .817 percentage that ranks ninth.

Pinning It Down

Zac Brunson continues to move closer to joining the school's all-time career pins list. After tallying two pins at Midlands, Brunson needs just three more pins to enter the top-10 on Illinois' all-time list. With five this season, Brunson has 17 for his career, three behind No. 10 Troy Tirapelle (2006-09) who finished his career with 20. Tony Dallago owns the school record with 40 pins from 2009-13.
 

Emery Parker Enters The Ranks

In his first season as Illinois' projected starter at 184 pounds, Emery Parker checked into the InterMat rankings at No. 15 on December 6. Parker (16-3) has won individual titles at the Joe Parisi Open and again at the UNI Open. Taking over the weight after the graduation of two-year starter Jeff Koepke, Parker has issued five tech falls and two pins while scoring bonus points in 12 of his 16 victories this season.
 

Martinez Wins Second Midlands Title

165-pounder Isaiah Martinez became just the third Illini to win multiple Midlands individual titles during their Illinois careers. Martinez 10-6 decision over #9 Chad Walsh of Rider made him just the second Illini to win the tournament twice, joining Mike Poeta (2006-07) and Alex Tirapelle (2003 & 2005). Martinez improved his season record to 12-0 with six victories, while racking up 27.5 of Illinois' 83 team points. Zane Richards (2^nd) and Zac Brunson (3^rd) also placed, as the Illini finished fifth as a team.

Illini Host Indiana on BTN on February 12

The Fighting Illini will make their lone dual meet appearance on the Big Ten Network on Sunday, February 12 when they host Indiana at 3 p.m. The meet is the regular season finale for the Orange and Blue and will serve as senior day for Zane Richards, Zac Brunson and Bill Barbour.

Illini Set Promotional Schedule

Illinois wrestling will host a number of promotions across their five home dual meets this season, beginning with the annual Great Escape on January 20 vs. Michigan. Prior to the match against the Wolverines, kids can participate in the youth clinic, led by Fighting Illini athletes and coaches. Other promotions include Hometown Heroes (Jan. 22), 'Frats to the Mats' (Jan. 27), Take Down Cancer (Feb. 5) and senior day (Feb. 12).