DUAL INFORMATION
Purdue (5-2, 0-1 B1G) at Northwestern (5-2, 0-1 B1G)
Sunday, Jan. 8 / 3 p.m. ET
Welsh-Ryan Arena / Evanston, Illinois
Purdue Notes / Live Video / Live Results
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - With the turn of the calendar, the Purdue wrestling team's schedule shifts to Big Ten Conference duals. The Boilermakers will look to even their conference mark at Northwestern on Sunday with action from Welsh-Ryan Arena is set to get underway at 3 p.m. ET.
Although Purdue was wrestling in Welsh-Ryan Arena eight days ago at the 54th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships, Sunday will be the Boilermakers' first road trip to Northwestern since a 21-15 win on Feb. 1, 2013. They have taken a 44-41-2 advantage in the all-time series thanks to back-to-back wins and Purdue is aiming to make it three straight after a 22-17 upset of the 19th-ranked Wildcats in their last meeting on Jan. 16, 2015. The 88th meeting with Northwestern stands as the second-most meetings among the Boilermakers' 149 all-time opponents.
| PURDUE PROBABLE LINEUP | ||||
| WEIGHT | NAME | YEAR | RECORD | HOMETOWN |
| 125 | Ben Thornton | RS So. | 19-8 | Stoddard, Wis. |
| 133 | Luke Welch | RS Jr. | 13-7 | Newburgh, Ind. |
| 141 | Kyle Ayersman | RS Sr. | 12-6 | Dyer, Ind. |
| Austin Nash | RS Fr. | 4-5 | Florham Park, N.J. | |
| 149 | Jeremy Golding | RS Sr. | 9-5 | Spokane, Wash. |
| Nate Limmex | RS Fr. | 8-8 | Ada, Mich. | |
| 157 | Alex Griffin | RS Sr. | 20-8 | Lafayette, Ind. |
| 165 | Dylan Lydy | RS Fr. | 13-11 | Indianapolis, Ind. |
| 174 | Jacob Morrissey | RS Jr. | 7-6 | Oconto Falls, Wis. |
| 184 | Tanner Lynde | RS Sr. | 12-8 | Delphi, Ind. |
| 197 | Christian Brunner | Fr. | 15-9 | East Dundee, Ill. |
| 285 | Tyler Kral | RS Sr. | 19-8 | Crown Point, Ind. |
| Jacob Aven | RS So. | 7-6 | Zionsville, Ind. | |
Head Coach / Tony Ersland
Head Assistant Coach / Tyrel Todd
Assistant Coach / Kendric Maple
Volunteer Assistant Coach / Jake Sueflohn
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE BOILERMAKERS
- Alex Griffin appeared in three media outlet rankings this week after his seventh-place Midlands performance ... Trackwrestling bumped him eight spots to No. 14 ... he made his third appearance of the season on TheOpenMat.com's top-20 listing, checking in at No. 20 ... Amateur Wrestling News included Griffin for the first time this season, listing him at No. 18.
- Purdue has used five different lineups in its seven duals ... the Boilermakers are 4-1 in the five duals where the starting weight is 125.
- Purdue owns a combined 41-29 dual record with 13 wins resulting in bonus points (4 MD, 5 TF, 4 F) ... Tyler Kral leads the way with dual record of 6-1 and 21 points scored ... the heavyweight has won his last two dual bouts ... Ben Thornton and Alex Griffin follow at 5-2 ... two of Thornton's wins are major decisions ... Griffin has provided the most bonus points in duals with two technical falls and a major decision.
- Kral is looking to make his 10th straight start dating to last season, which is currently the most consecutive starts for the Boilermakers.
- Kral is only three wins shy of surpassing his win total from the three previous seasons ... he already has 10 more victories than he did in 2015-16 ... six of the redshirt senior's wins have been shutouts, a career and team best.
- Joining Kral with a career high in wins at the season's half-way point are Thornton and Griffin ... Thornton won 15 matches last season and his next win will be the 35th of his career ... Griffin has reached the 20-win mark for the first time in his career ... Griffin's previous high of 18 came during his rookie campaign.
- Griffin ranks fourth on Purdue's career back points list with 292 and sixth on the season rankings with 140 ... he averages 5.0 back points per match while scoring 9.0 points per match.
- Griffin is the team leader in numerous categories, most notability with 251 total points scored and his nine tech falls are the most since Jake Patacsil had a dozen in 2009 ... the next tech fall will be the 20th of his career ... nearly 30 percent of Griffin's career wins have been by tech fall.
- With 20 back points at Midlands, Jacob Morrissey joined Griffin on the career back points list with 148 ... the redshirt junior is tied with Frank Laccone (1993-97) in the No. 12 spot ... Morrissey has 54 back points through 13 matches this season.
- The last Big Ten Conference dual win for Purdue was an 18-14 upset at No. 20 Indiana on Feb. 7, 2016.