"Tonight was probably the best we've wrestled all year," Illinois head coach Mark Johnson said. "It was just a great team performance and John Wise's win over one of the top guys in the nation topped it all off."
At 125, Futrell scored a takedown with 11 seconds left in the first period and led 2-0 after three minutes. Chris Albright started down in the second and escaped, but Futrell scored a takedown and got Albright on his back for the pin in 4:43.
Next up, Kennedy scored a pair of takedowns in the first period for a 4-1 lead after a period. Kennedy started down in the second and got a reversal 42 seconds later, and No. 14 Jimmy Conroy escaped to give Kennedy a 6-2 lead after five minutes. In the third, Conroy started down and escaped, but Kennedy notched three takedowns and got the riding time point for the 13-5 major decision.
At 141, No. 11 Tyler Nauman got a takedown with 1:12 left in the first and rode out Illinois' Ryan Prater for a 2-0 lead. Nauman started down in the second and Prater rode him the entire period, then the pair started neutral in the third. After no further scoring, Nauman walked away with a 2-0 win.
As he did on Friday, true-freshman Eric Terrazas hung tough with Pitt's Mark Powell, trailing 4-0 after two periods. But Terrazas started down in the third, gave up a stalling point, a two-point near fall and a riding time point as Powell earned an 8-0 major decision.
Poeta continued to show no ill effects in his return as he recorded a 17-5 major decision over Phil Sorrentino. He jumped out to an early lead with a takedown 20 seconds into the bout and a three-point near fall. After Sorrentino escaped, Poeta scored a takedown with six seconds left. In the second, Poeta started down and escaped four seconds in. Sorrentino gave up a stalling point to give Poeta a 9-1 lead after five minutes. Sorrentino started down in the third and escaped. After he gave up another stalling point, Poeta scored three more takedowns and added the riding time point for the win.
At 165, No. 11 Roger Smith-Bergsrud gave up a takedown to Pitt's Ethan Headlee with 2:15 left in the first and Headlee rode him out. After a scoreless second period, Headlee started down in the third and escaped for a 3-0 lead. Smith-Bergsrud scored a takedown but Headlee escaped for a 4-2 lead with 1:22 left. Headlee gave up a stalling point to bring the Illini within a point, but Smith-Bergsrud couldn't connect on any late offense as he fell, 5-3.
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But John Dergo restarted the Illini momentum with his 6-2 win at 174. Dergo scored two takedowns in the first for a 4-1 lead after three minutes, and the only scoring in the second was an escape by Pitt's Dave Sullivan. Dergo started down in the third and escaped, then added a riding time point for the 6-2 win.
At 184, No. 15 Jordan Blanton took care of Zac Thomusseit for the second time this season, with a 6-2 decision. After a scoreless first period, Blanton started down in the second and escaped. He notched a takedown with 1:49 left in the period and rode out Thomusseit for the 3-0 lead. Thomusseit started down in the third and Blanton scored a two-point near fall before giving up a point for an illegal hold and allowing Thomusseit to escape. But Blanton tacked on the riding time point for the 6-2 win.
Patrick Bond continued his resurgence with a 5-1 win. He scored a first-period takedown, then started down in the second and escaped for a 3-0 lead. Matt Wilps started down and escaped in the third, but Bond notched another takedown for the final 5-1 margin.
With the dual already decided, the tenth-ranked Wise scored a takedown on Pitt's fourth-ranked Zach Sheaffer, the first time the Panther had been taken down this season. Wise rode him out, then started down in the second and escaped for the 3-0 lead. Sheaffer scored a takedown with 49 seconds left in the period to cut Wise's lead to 3-2 after five minutes. Following a neutral start to the third, Wise got another takedown with 26 seconds left and added the riding time point for the 6-2 win, handing Sheaffer just his third loss of the season.
Illinois has the next two weeks off from competition before traveling to Iowa City on Jan. 25 to face the top-ranked Hawkeyes. The dual will begin at 5 p.m. and will be televised live on the Big Ten Network.
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