Wisconsin Badgers
Illinois
This Week in Badger Wrestling: Jan. 31
January 28, 2016 | Wrestling
Badgers return to the mat, as Illinois visits Madison on Sunday
BADGERS HOST RANKED FIGHTING ILLINI SQUAD
- Wisconsin (1-4, 0-3 Big Ten) welcomes Illinois (10-4, 1-4) to the UW Field House for the Badgers' third home dual of the season, Sunday, January 31 at 12 p.m.
- UW trails the all-time series against the Fighting Illini, 31-38-3, dating back to the teams' first meeting in 1914-15. Following a 20-match win streak for Wisconsin from 1972-92 and a period from 1998-2010 in which U of I won 11 of 12 matches (one tie), the conference foes have split the last four meetings. Most recently, Illinois defeated the Badgers, 20-15, last year in Champaign, Ill.
| Wisconsin vs. #13 Illinois | |
| Date | Sunday, January 31 | 12 p.m. |
| Location | Madison, Wis. | UW Field House |
| Watch | BTN2Go |
| Updates | Live Stats | @BadgerWrestling |
| Notes | Wisconsin | Illinois Preview |
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NOTES TO KNOW
1 REWIND: In last year's dual, No. 12 Wisconsin lost to fourth-ranked Illinois, 20-15, as all but three matches were decided by decision.No. 7-ranked Ryan Taylor lopsidedly knocked off third-ranked Zane Richards by technical fall (23-5) in the 133-pound match. The pair is set to meet again this year. In the 149-pound grapple, Andrew Crone narrowly lost to Kyle Langenderfer in a 6-5 decision. Like the Taylor-Richards matchup, Crone is slotted to take on Landenderfer on Sunday. Additionally, Ricky Robertson (174) and Isaac Jordan (165) picked up wins but will not face the same opponents as last season. Jordan's 2014-15 victory against the Fighting Illini brought his record to 12-0. He will have another opportunity to extend a double-digit wins streak this time around, as he enters the event at a perfect 15-0.
2 PREVIEW: Illinois sports four ranked wrestlers, including No. 2 Zane Richards (133), No. 2 Isaiah Martinez (157), No. 6 Steven Rodrigues (165) and No. 4Â Zac Brunson (174). Isaac Jordan has wrestled both Martinez and Brunson but will face off with a different opponent--Rodrigues--on Sunday. Wrestling at 157 pounds as a freshman, then-10th-ranked Jordan won by disqualification against then-No. 15 Brunson. The victory bettered his record to 14-1. Later in 2013-14, Jordan--ninth among 157-pounders at the time--met Brunson at the Midlands Championships. In a close 7-5 decision he suffered just his third loss of the season to that point. Richards enters the dual with an unscathed 19-0 record with five pins. Rodrigues (18-1), Martinez (19-1) and Brunson (14-1) all have just one loss on the year. Brunson leads the Fighting Illini in pins with eight, while Martinez has picked up three falls.
3 BADGERS-ILLINI CONNECTION: Wisconsin freshman Michael Cullen (125) and first-year Fighting Illini wrestler Eric Barone (149) hail from the same area of northwest Illinois. Despite wrestling at different weights, the pair both competed in the Fox Valley Conference. Cullen attended Cary Grove High School, while Barone went to Crystal Lake South High School.
4 JUST JORDAN: No. 3 Isaac Jordan has started the season with an unscathed 15-0 record, winning 165-pound titles at the Navy Classic and Cliff Keen Invitational. He continued that streak after grabbing the lone victory for the Badgers against Iowa on January 15. Just one of two Badgers to take on an unranked Iowa opponent, third-ranked Jordan picked up a takedown on Patrick Rhoads in the first period and never looked back. The Urbana, Ohio, native piled on six points over the course of the match, while preventing Rhoads from registering a point until the 40-second mark of the third period when Rhoads earned an escape.
5 LAST TIME OUT: In its second-ever dual at the Kohl Center, January 15, the Wisconsin men's wrestling team fell to No. 2 Iowa, 31-3, dropping nine of 10 matches, but losing five by four points or less. The Badgers are now 0-2 in the Kohl Center after dropping the first Kohl Center dual 27-7 to Iowa State. The Hawkeyes (11-0, 5-0) scored the first points in eight of 10 matches en route to their sixth-straight win over UW (1-4, 0-3), dating back to 2007-08. Iowa now leads the all-time series 76-8-3, including a 38-4-2 mark in Madison.
Players Mentioned
