DUAL INFORMATION
Purdue (8-5, 3-4 B1G) at No. 11 Illinois (6-2, 3-2 B1G)*
Sunday, Feb. 5 / 2 p.m. ET
Huff Hall / Champaign, Illinois
Purdue Notes / Illinois Notes / Live Video / Live Results
*Illinois wrestles at Northwestern on Friday
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - After wrestling two duals in each of the past two weekends, Purdue has just one opponent on its radar this weekend. The final road dual of the season has the Boilermakers paying a visit to No. 11 Illinois on Sunday. The Big Ten Conference battle is set for a 2 p.m. ET start from Huff Hall.
The visit to Champaign is the first for Purdue since Jan. 11, 2013, after having the last two meetings in West Lafayette (2014, 2015). It will be the 88th time the Boilermakers have wrestled the Illini, which is tied with Northwestern for the second-most all-time meetings among Purdue's 148 all-time opponents.
The Boilermakers take a 3-2 road record, including a 2-1 mark in the Big Ten, into their sixth and final dual away from Holloway Gymnasium. The task is going up against a top-15 opponent for a fourth consecutive weekend after losses to No. 6 Nebraska and No. 13 Minnesota last weekend.
Despite the setbacks, Nate Limmex and Jacob Morrissey emerged with a pair of wins at 149 and 174 pounds, respectively. Limmex put up a pair of decisions to move his redshirt freshman campaign record above .500 at 11-10.
A sudden victory decision and a pin extended Morrissey's winning streak to six as he improved to 13-6 and 6-0 in conference matches. Among the redshirt junior's six Big Ten wins are three decisions, one tech fall and two pins. Morrissey has outscored his league opponents 56-17 (points scored in pins included). The last Purdue wrestler to start with a 6-0 mark in Big Ten duals was Ivan Lopouchanski in 2012-13.
Nine of Morrissey's 13 wins have resulted in bonus points, which is a career high. He's registered a pair of major decisions, pinned three opponents and won by technical fall four times. Morrissey has come away with back points in 11 of his 19 matches, including 5 of 6 conference bouts, to average a career best 7.8 points per match.
On Sunday, the native of Oconto Falls, Wisconsin, will square off against one of the Illini's seven ranked wrestlers, No. 12 Zac Brunson. The 22-5 redshirt senior will be the sixth nationally ranked foe for Morrissey. Unranked all season, Morrissey has a pair of wins over ranked opponents, beating No. 11 Jadaen Bernstein of Navy 3-2 and a 10-4 upset of Indiana's Devin Skatzka.
Illinois, winners of four straight, starts its third consecutive double-dual weekend at Northwestern on Friday. Last weekend the Illini won their third Big Ten dual with a 30-9 outing against Michigan State. They then traveled to and beat No. 22 Arizona State 26-9.
| PURDUE PROBABLE LINEUP | ||||
| WEIGHT | NAME | YEAR | RECORD | HOMETOWN |
| 125 | Ben Thornton | RS So. | 22-11 | Stoddard, Wis. |
| 133 | Luke Welch | RS Jr. | 17-9 | Newburgh, Ind. |
| 141 | Kyle Ayersman | RS Sr. | 14-10 | Dyer, Ind. |
| 149 | Nate Limmex | RS Fr. | 11-10 | Ada, Mich. |
| 157 | Cole Wysocki | RS Fr. | 5-8 | Edwardsville, Ill. |
| Alex Griffin | RS Sr. | 22-10 | Lafayette, Ind. | |
| 165 | Dylan Lydy | RS Fr. | 16-14 | Indianapolis, Ind. |
| 174 | Jacob Morrissey | RS Jr. | 13-6 | Oconto Falls, Wis. |
| 184 | Tanner Lynde | RS Sr. | 13-13 | Delphi, Ind. |
| 197 | Christian Brunner | Fr. | 17-13 | East Dundee, Ill. |
| 285 | Tyler Kral | RS Sr. | 20-12 | Crown Point, Ind. |
| Jacob Aven | RS So. | 9-8 | 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
- Thanks to his upset of Minnesota's Mitch McKee, Luke Welch improved his position in both the WIN Magazine and Trackwrestling rankings ... WIN Magazine pushed him up two spots to No. 18, while Trackwrestling moved him to No. 24.
- Despite being inactive last weekend, Alex Griffin improved three spots in the Trackwrestling rankings to No. 22 ... he slipped out of the Amateur Wrestling News rankings after four straight weeks on the poll.
- See the sidebar on page 3 for information on the NCAA Division I Wrestling Coaches' Panel Rankings and the six Boilermakers that are ranked.
- The NCAA's third release of national win leaders on Wednesday has Griffin tied for seventh with six tech falls against non-NCAA Division I opponents (only falls and tech falls against opponents from the same division are counted) ... among the top 10, his six tech falls in 28:20 is the fourth lowest time ... the national leader is Virginia's Jack Mueller with nine in 33:47.
- The Boilermakers are 7-4 when the starting weight is 125 ... all of their Big Ten duals have started at 125.
- Seven Big Ten bouts have gone beyond regulation ... Purdue is 5-2 in those matches ... four of those matches have been decided in sudden victory with the other three decided in the tiebreakers ... Welch and Tyler Kral are 2-2 in overtime matches ... Griffin, Dylan Lydy and Morrissey have all won a Big Ten bout in sudden victory.
- With Kral's 13-dual starting streak coming to an end, the longest streak is now shared by Ben Thornton, Lydy and Christian Brunner ... the trio has started in all 13 duals this season.
- Kral is only one win shy of matching his win total from the three previous seasons (21) ... he has 11 more victories than he did in 2015-16 ... six of the redshirt senior's wins have been shutouts, a career high that is also tied for tops on the team.
- With 152 back points through 30 matches, Griffin ranks fourth on the Boilermakers' season record list ... he's behind Jake Patacsil who owns the top three spots (2009: 293; 2008: 226; 2007: 190) ... he is tied for third on the career standings with Chris Fleeger with 304 back points.