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Senior Joe Barczak has won three consecutive matches at 197 despite wrestling up a weight class.
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Feb. 2, 2011
#19 Illinois vs. Ohio State
Feb. 4 // Huff Hall // 7 pm // BigTenNetwork.com // Champaign, Ill.
Live Streaming
The Illinois/Ohio State dual will be streamed live through the Big Ten Network here. The broadcasts will be announced, shot and produced entirely by University of Illinois students. Spencer Turkin will provide play-by-play for both matches, with sophomore Illini wrestler Matt McCarter as the analyst.
Live Scoring
Live scoring will be available for the Ohio State dual through the NWCA Live Scorebook. It can be found here.
#19 Illinois (3-4-1, 1-3-1) Probable Wrestlers
125 -/- Logan Arlis, 9-14, Fr. 133 7/5 B.J. Futrell, 20-4, So. 141 4/4 Jimmy Kennedy, 10-1, Sr. OR -/- Daryl Thomas, 3-2, So. 149 20/15 Eric Terrazas, 18-6, Jr. 157 -/- Jackson Morse, 18-8, Fr. 165 -/- Conrad Polz, 9-7, So. 174 9/9 Jordan Blanton, 6-3, Jr. OR -/- Ben Friedl, 9-5, Sr. 184 -/- Tony Dallago, 13-11, r-Fr. 197 -/- Joe Barczak, 10-5, Sr. HWT -/- Pat Walker, 8-10, So. Rankings are listed in Intermat / W.I.N. format
Ohio State (2-7, 1-3) Probable Wrestlers
125 -/- Bo Touris, 1-6, Jr. 133 20/- Ian Paddock, 15-6, So. 141 -/- Randy Languis, 10-11, Fr. 149 -/- Mike Fee, 5-9, r-Fr. 157 -/- Sean Nemec, 9-11, Jr. 165 7/10 Colt Sponseller, 15-3, Sr. 174 15/14 Nick Heflin, 16-4, r-Fr. 184 -/- C.J. Magrum, 6-7, So. 197 -/- Peter Capone, 15-12, So. HWT -/- Zach Stolarsky, 2-7, Jr. Rankings are listed in Intermat, W.I.N. format
Quick Shots
• Senior Jimmy Kennedy is back for his final season after redshirting in 2009-10 and opened the season ranked either No. 1 or 2 by all three major rankings. Kennedy now is ranked either No. 3 or 4 in all three polls, holding down the No. 4 spot in the Intermat and W.I.N. Magazine rankings, while coming in at No. 3 by Amateur Wrestling News. He is 10-1 thus far, including four wins over ranked opponents and two over top-10 foes, but has missed Illinois' last six duals with an ankle injury.
• Junior Jordan Blanton is ranked No. 10 by Intermat and W.I.N., and No. 12 by AWN after falling to Stanford's Nick Amuchastegui at the NWCA All-Star Classic, placing fifth at the Las Vegas Invitational and dropping a 3-1 decision to Purdue's Luke Manuel in Illinois' first Big Ten dual. Blanton has missed Midlands and Illinois' last six duals with a back injury.
• Sophomore B.J. Futrell has opened the season exceptionally well at his new 133-pound weight class after recovering from a shoulder injury that cut his 2009-10 season short. Futrell won his first seven matches this year, placed fourth at the Las Vegas Invitational - out-performing his No. 10 seed - and took second at Midlands. He has topped five ranked foes this year: No. 6 Scotti Sentes (Central Michigan), No. 7 Devin Carter (Virginia Tech), No. 8 Tony Ramos (Iowa) and No. 15 Nathan Pennesi (WVU). His four losses have come to No. 3 Tyler Graff (Wisconsin) (three times) and No. 5 Lou Ruggirello (Hofstra).
• Junior 149-pounder Eric Terrazas is in the midst of a breakout season, currently ranked as high as No. 13 by AWN, and holding an 18-6 record. He placed third at Midlands, topping No. 7 Andrew Nadhir (Northwestern) in overtime in the third-place bout, and fifth at the Las Vegas Invitational. His hot start is reminiscent of last season, when Terrazas started 9-0 but broke his foot while training during Thanksgiving break and went 3-9 the remainder of the year. So far this year, Terrazas is 4-3 against ranked opponents and 1-1 against top-10 foes.
• True-freshman Jackson Morse jumped into the starting lineup against West Virginia on Jan. 7 and has gone 3-3 since then, including a pair of major decisions in duals against SIU Edwardsville and Minnesota. Morse is second on the team with 18 wins.
• While the Illini are led by upperclassmen Kennedy and Blanton, Illinois has a young starting lineup with two true-freshmen, one redshirt-freshmen and three sophomores among its 10 regular starters. All three of those sophomores have used their redshirt season, but Illinois still has six of its 10 starters in their first or second year wrestling as part of the Illinois team rather than unattached.
#19 Illini Host Ohio State
No. 19 Illinois returns home to Huff Hall to welcome Ohio State for a 7 p.m. dual on Friday, Feb. 4. Both teams are riding two-match losing streaks, with the Illini dropping consecutive duals to No. 5 Minnesota and Michigan State, and the Buckeyes falling to No. 8 Iowa and No. 13 Michigan State. But while Illinois' two losses were by five and six points, respectively, OSU fell to Iowa by a 33-3 score and to Michigan, 27-9.
Ohio State has fought through a tough season so far in 2010-11, holding a 2-7 record and a 1-3 mark in the Big Ten. OSU's wins have come against Edinboro and Michigan State, and the Buckeyes have lost to Pittsburgh, Nebraska, Penn State, Cornell, Northern Iowa, Iowa and Michigan. OSU still has Minnesota, Wisconsin and Northwestern remaining on its schedule.
Series History Against Ohio State
Illinois holds a 32-29-1 lead in the all-time series and is 10-3 in its last 13 meetings with Ohio State. The Buckeyes took last year's dual by a 38-3 score, taking its second-straight win in the series and snapping a five-match losing streak at Huff Hall. Illinois is 16-11-1 all-time at home against OSU.
Matchups to Watch
A number of weights in this week's dual will likely feature close bouts that will be important to the final outcome. Here's a look at a few of those intriguing matchups:
#19 Illinois vs. Ohio State
184: Tony Dallago (ILL) vs. C.J. Magrum (OSU)
Dallago is looking to rebound after a pair of close losses to Minnesota's No. 7 Kevin Steinhaus (4-0) and Michigan State's Ian Hinton (3-2). Magrum scored a 4-1 win over Michigan's Hunter Collins in last Friday's dual, snapping a four-match losing streak. Magrum is wrestling at 184 this year after spending 2009-10 at 197. The two have never met in college.
197: Joe Barczak (ILL) vs. Peter Capone (OSU)
Barczak has posted three consecutive wins at 197 despite weighing in at 184 and actually being a 174-pounder. He notched a 24-10 major decision against SIUE's Robert Cooney, scored a 6-4 win against Minnesota's Joe Nord and beat Michigan State's Tyler Dickenson, 3-2. Capone also is wrestling up a weight class after competing at 184 for much of the season. He has lost consecutive matches to Iowa's Luke Lofthouse and Michigan's Anthony Biondo.
HWT: Pat Walker (ILL) vs. Zach Stolarsky (OSU)
Walker is looking for his first win in an actual bout (he accepted a forfeit against SIUE) since an 8-2 win over West Virginia's Phil Mandzik on Jan. 7, a four-match skid. Stolarsky has lost six consecutive matches dating back to Nov. 7.
*Complete match notes available in the attached PDF file.
