CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Riding a four-match winning streak entering the final dual of the season, the 14th-ranked Fighting Illini wrestling team hosts No. 20 Wisconsin at 1 p.m. at Huff Hall. Coach Heffernan and staff will honor seniors Isaiah Martinez, Kyle Langenderfer, Isaac Reinemann and Brock Ervin prior to the match. BTN Plus and FloWrestling will stream the match live via a subscription.
| Illinois Probables |
|
Wisconsin Probables |
|
| Wt. Class |
Wrestler |
Record |
Wrestler |
Record |
| 125 |
#18 Travis Piotrowski (So.) |
14-5 |
Johnny Jimenez (Sr.) |
1-5 |
| 133 |
Dylan Duncan (r-Fr.) |
14-6 |
Jen Lantz (r-Jr.) |
15-9 |
| 141 |
#12 Mike Carr (r-Fr.) |
13-4 |
Eli Stickley (r-So.) |
15-6 |
| 149 |
Eric Barone (r-So.) |
8-11 |
Cole Martin (r-So.) |
13-8 |
| 157 |
#20 Kyle Langenderfer(r-Sr.) |
10-7 |
#19 Andrew Crone (r-Sr.) |
20-7 |
| 165 |
#2 Isaiah Martinez (r-Sr.) |
10-0 |
#6 Evan Wick (r-Fr.) |
18-2 |
| 174 |
David Riojas (Fr.) |
2-12 |
Ryan Christiansen (r-Jr.) |
16-9 |
| 184 |
#6 Emery Parker (r-Jr.) |
17-1 |
#9 Ricky Robertson (r-Sr.) |
20-4 |
| 197 |
Andre Lee (r-Jr.) |
9-10 |
Hunter Ritter (r-So.) |
18-7 |
| HWT |
Deuce Rachal (r-Jr.) |
9-12 |
Ben Stone (r-So.) |
5-12 |
Quick Hits
*Coach Heffernan and staff will be honoring four seniors prior to Sunday's meet: Isaiah Martinez, Kyle Langenderfer, Isaac Reinemann and Brock Ervin.
*Illinois enters the weekend leading Wisconsin 41-26-3 in the all-time series, including victories in each of the last two meetings.
*Illinois enters Sunday's dual winners of four straight, and six of their last seven dual
*The Illini are on an 11-dual winning streak at Huff Hall dating back to a 25-24 win against Northwestern on February 7, 2016.
*Emery Parker has won 12 straight matches dating back to December 1 at Iowa. During the 12-match winning streak, Parker has outscored his opponents 113-54 and has two wins over top-10 wrestlers.
*Isaiah Martinez has won each of his ten matches this season, nine coming by either tech fall or fall. The redshirt senior is outscoring his opponents 185-56 in the ten matches and leads the Illini with 49 dual points.
*Martinez's eight tech falls is tied for 7th in NCAA Division I despite having wrestled just 10 matches.
*Isaiah Martinez is tied for 14th on Illinois' all-time wins list with 108 career victories. Martinez is tied with former Illini B.J. Futrell and Mark Jayne.
*Illini freshman Mike Carr is starting to gain notoriety after a pair of wins over ranked opponents this month. On a seven-match winning streak, and nine of his last 10, FloWrestling and InterMat both rank Carr as the 12th-best wrestler at 141 pounds.
Scouting the Badgers
Having wrestled three less Big Ten duals than the Illini prior to this weekend, the Badgers enter with a 3-2 conference record, 6-2 overall. Like the Orange and Blue, Wisconsin owns victories over Indiana and Maryland, but dropped a dual at Northwestern (18-14), while the Illini edged the Wildcats 18-17. Individually the Illini and Badgers match-up well, as each of their top wrestlers will face off at 157-, 165-, and 184 pounds. No. 6 Evan Wick leads the team at 165 pounds, while 184-pounder Ricky Robertson ranks ninth to give the Badgers two top-10 grapplers. Prior to traveling to Champaign, Wisconsin will host No. 14 Nebraska on Friday night. Illinois beat the Huskers 18-17 back on January 5.
Series History: Illinois Leads 41-26-3
Illinois owns a 15-match advantage over Wisconsin in the all-time series, dating back to 1915. The Illini have won each of the last two meetings, the last coming in Madison in 2016 when the Illini won 21-13.
Matches to Watch
165 Pounds: #2 Isaiah Martinez vs. #6 Evan Wick:
Looking to finish the regular season undefeated, Martinez will wrestle his highest-ranked foe to date in the Badger redshirt freshman. Wick, a two-time California placewinner, Wick is 18-2 on the season and owns a win over Michigan All-American Logan Massa. Wick will likely be coming off a match against No. 12 Isaiah White (Nebraska) as the Badgers and Huskers wrestle Friday night. Martinez missed White, as the Husker 165-pounder did not wrestle when the Illini defeated Nebraska on January 5.
184 Pounds: #6 Emery Parker vs. #9 Ricky Robertson
A chance to avenge his only loss of the season, Emery Parker will be looking to get revenge on Ricky Robertson after Robertson got the best of Parker in the Roadrunner Open 184-pound title bout back in November. Needing more than the allotted seven minutes to determine a winner, Robertson got the winning takedown in sudden victory to win the match 3-1 out in California. Since then, Parker has piled up 12 straight victories, two over top-10 opponents. Robertson enters the weekend with a 20-4 record on the season and will wrestle No. 7 Taylor Venz (Nebraska) on Friday night. Parker beat Venz, 9-7, on January 5 in Champaign.
157 Pounds: #20 Kyle Langenderfer vs. #19 Andrew Crone
Much the same as Parker vs. Robertson, this is a rematch of a Roadrunner Open title match, one that saw Langenderfer come out on top. 0-2 against Crone in his collegiate career entering the match this past November, Langenderfer blitzed Crone for a 9-4 decision. On his Senior Day, Langenderfer will look to even the score with his second straight win over the Badger.
Illini Notes
Senior Sendoff
Head coach Jim Heffernan and staff will be honoring four seniors prior to Sunday's dual, two of which will be wrestling for their final time at Huff Hall. Starters Isaiah Martinez and Kyle Langenderfer will look to finish their Huff Hall careers with a victory on Sunday after the two have combined for 172 career wins thus far in their careers. Joining Martinez and Langenderfer will be Isaac Reinemann and Brock Ervin.
Last Time Out
Wrestling two duals for the first time since the beginning of the New Year, the Illini extended their winning streak to four straight matches. On Friday night, the Illini won six straight matches to begin the dual, a 27-0 run, to defeat Indiana 33-9 in Bloomington. Two days later the Orange and Blue returned to Huff Hall where they defeated No. 19 Rutgers, 23-12, behind a tech fall from Isaiah Martinez and Kyle Langenderfer's upset of No. 17 Jon Van Brill.
Home Cooking
The Illini have won 11 straight home duals, the longest streak under head coach Jim Heffernan, and the longest in Illini history since former Illini head coach Mark Johnson led the Orange and Blue to 11 straight from February 8, 2004 to January 20, 2006. The 11 straight victories dates back to a February 7, 2016 match against Northwestern where the Illini defeated the Wildcats, 25-24. In the nine matches, Illinois has defeated a trio of ranked foes, No. 13 Michigan (1/20/17), No. 20 Nebraska (1/5/18) and No. 19 Rutgers (2/4/18).
Parker's Win Streak Continues
Picking up a 4-3 decision last Sunday against Rutgers, Parker has now won 12 straight contests dating back to December 1 at Iowa. Outscoring his opponents 113-54 during the 12-match stretch, Parker has defeated three ranked opponents in the process. Parker's 17 wins this season lead the team, while his 32 dual team points is second only to Isaiah Martinez (49).
Tech Support
Isaiah Martinez has boosted the Illini in each of its ten duals with tech falls in eight of the 10 contests, with one of the other decisions coming by fall. The eight tech falls is tied for 7th in NCAA Division I despite having just 10 matches this season. In the 10 victories, Martinez owns a 185-56 advantage in points scored, and leads the team with 49 dual team points. Martinez owns 48 tech falls in his career, his most common victory of the 108 career wins.
Carr Making Moves
Having won six of his seven Big Ten matches, redshirt freshman Mike Carr is gaining national attention for his first-year surge. 13-4 on the season, Carr has moved up to No. 12 at 141 pounds, according to InterMat and FloWrestling.
For complete coverage of Fighting Illini wrestling, go to FIGHTINILLINI.com and follow @IlliniWrestling on Twitter and Instagram.
