CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The No. 10 Illinois wrestling team (7-3, 0-1 B1G) dropped its Big Ten opener to No. 11 Minnesota (7-2, 1-0 B1G), 27-9, on Saturday afternoon in Huff Hall.
Minnesota jumped out to an early 3-0 lead with a win in the 184-pound bout. Dylan Connell went on to tie the dual for the Illini at three in the 197-pound match with his upset win in sudden victory over No. 20 Gavin Nelson, 4-1.
The Golden Gophers took the next two matches before No. 1 at 133 pounds, Lucas Byrd, improved to 10-0 on the season, 7-1, over Brandon Morvari to cut into the Minnesota lead, 12-6. However, that is as close as the match would be the rest of the afternoon as the visitor rattled off three straight wins including an injury default at 157 pounds that ultimately put the contest out of reach. It stood 24-6 in favor of Minnesota at this point.
Braeden Scoles (No. 9 at 165 pounds) got Illinois on the board again with a 9-3 decision over Blaine Brenner before Minnesota won the final bout as Illinois fell, 27-9 to the Golden Gophers. Today's attendance was 464.
RESULTS
#10 Illinois 9, #11 Minnesota 27
Jan. 10, 2026 I Champaign, Ill. I Huff Hall
184: #3 Max McEnelly (MINN) dec. #33 Chris Moore (ILL), 9-3 // ILL 0, MINN 3
197: Dylan Connell (ILL) dec. #20 Gavin Nelson (MINN), SV-1 4-1 // ILL 3, MINN 3
285: #10 Koy Hopke (MINN) major dec. Ryan Boersma (ILL), 9-1 // ILL 3, MINN 7
125: #9 Jore Volk (MINN) tech. fall CJ Campbell (ILL), 22-6 (6:26) // ILL 3, MINN 12
133: #1 Lucas Byrd (ILL) dec. Brandon Morvari (MINN), 7-1 // ILL 6, MINN 12
141: #11 Vance VomBaur (MINN) dec. #13 Danny Pucino (ILL), 6-3 // ILL 6, MINN 15
149: #26 Drew Roberts (MINN) dec. #20 Michael Gioffre (ILL), 7-6 // ILL 6, MINN 18
157: #21 Charlie Millard (MINN) over #8 Kannon Webster (ILL), injury default (3:23) // ILL 6, MINN 24
165: #9 Braeden Scoles (ILL) dec. Blaine Brenner (MINN), 9-3 // ILL 9, MINN 24
174: #22 Ethan Riddle (MINN) dec. #19 Colin Kelly (ILL), SV-1 11-8
UP NEXT
The Orange and Blue matmen are back in action on Friday (Jan. 16) when they travel to East Lansing, Mich. to take on Michigan State at 6 p.m. CT.
