Mocs Host No. 9 Illinois Sunday

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga will close out the home portion of its non-conference schedule with another top-10 opponent this weekend. No. 9 Illinois (3-0, 0-0 B1G) visits Maclellan Gym on Sunday, Jan. 6, for a 2:00 p.m. (E.S.T.) dual meet.

This is a quick turnaround for the Mocs, after hosting the Southern Scuffle on Jan. 1-2 in McKenzie Arena. The Fighting Illini are the seventh top-10 team to visit the Scenic City this fall. Penn State (1), Oklahoma State (2), Minnesota (3), Missouri (6) and Cornell (7) were all in town for the Scuffle while the Mocs hosted No. 4 Iowa in a dual match on Nov. 16.

Tickets
Tickets are $5 for the match and available at the gate or on GoMocs.com. Doors open at 1:00 p.m.

LIVE STATS & MOCSVISION VIDEO
A link for live stats is available on the wrestling schedule page on GoMocs.com. There is live video through MocsVision on GoMocs.com.

CHATTANOOGA PROBABLE LINEUP:
125: No. 7 Nick Soto (So. - 16-5)
133: Marvin Lopez (Fr. - 7-7)
141: Dean Pavlou (Sr. - 16-8)
149: Alex Hudson - (Jr. - 4-5)
157: Trey Stavrum (So. - 7-10)
165: Josh Condon (Sr. - 2-4)/John Lampe (Fr. - 8-9)
174: Jake Young (Jr. - 7-9)
184: Robert Prigmore (Sr. - 5-9)/John Shrader (Fr. - 6-7)
197: No. 16 Niko Brown (Sr. - 19-3)
285: Kevin Malone (So. - 9-7)

The Mocs are 4-4 on the year with wins over Ohio (21-12), Anderson (37-6), Cumberland (49-0) and Princeton (27-10). Three of the four losses have come against ranked teams in No. 16 Virginia (9-26), No. 2 Iowa (6-37) and No. 2 Oklahoma State (9-41).

NO. 9 ILLINOIS PROBABLE LINEUP:
125: No. 5 Jesse Delgado (So. - 12-1)
133: No. 11 Daryl Thomas (Sr. - 16-3)/Logan Arlis (So. - 14-6)
141: No. 3 B.J. Futrell (Sr. - 18-1)
149: Caleb Ervin (Fr. - 16-4)
157: Matt Nora (Fr. - 8-4)
165: No. 8 Conrad Polz (Sr. - 11-3)
174: No. 8 Jordan Blanton (Sr. - 14-2)
184: No. 19 Tony Dallago (Jr. - 11-4)
197: No. 12 Mario Gonzalez (Jr. - 6-1)
285: Chris Lopez (Fr. - 10-5)

Illinois is currently 3-0 in dual meets with wins over Princeton (46-0), Maryland (31-6) and Binghampton (39-10). All three wins came at the Journeyman Duals in Troy, N.Y. on Nov. 24.

The Fighting Illini are coming off a win at the Midlands Championships on Dec. 29-30 in Evanston, Ill. Five wrestlers placed in the top seven, including Jesse Delgado (125) and B.J. Futrell (141) finishing second, Jordan Blanton (174) third, and Conrad Polz (165) and Mario Gonzalez (197) fifth.

There are seven ranked wrestlers on Illinois' roster, led by Futrell's No. 3 ranking at 141. Delgado is No. 5 at 125 while Polz and Blanton are No. 8 at 165 and 174, respectively. Daryl Thomas is No. 11 at 133, followed by No. 12 Mario Gonzales at 197 and No. 19 Tony Dallago at 184.

MOCS VS. ILLINOIS
UTC is 0-9 all-time against Illinois in dual meets, including last year's 30-6 loss in Champaign on Dec. 18. Nick Soto scored a big win in that match, upsetting No. 4 Futrell (5-3) at 133 pounds. There will not be a rematch as Soto has moved down to 125 and Futrell is up to 141. Kevin Malone also had a win at heavyweight, defeating Patrick Walker (6-3).

No. 7 Illinois 30 - Chattanooga 6
Dec. 18 - Champaign, Ill. 
125: No. 6 Jesse Delgado (Ill.) - TF 21-5 - Cole Gallagher (UTC) - Illinois 5-0
133: Nick Soto (UTC) - Dec. 8-2 - No. 4 B.J. Futrell (Ill.) - Illinois 5-3
141: Daryl Thomas (Ill.) - Dec. 11-10 - Shawn Greevy (UTC) - 8-3
149: No. 6 Eric Terrazas (Ill.) - Dec. 9-3 - Kelly Felix (UTC) - Illinois 11-3
157: Guy Kirby (Ill.) - Dec. 3-1 - Dan Waddell (UTC) - Illinois 14-3
165: Jackson Morse (Ill.) - Dec. 11-4 - Brandon Wright (UTC) - Illinois 17-3
174: No. 9 Jordan Blanton (Ill.) - MD 19-6 - Levi Clemons (UTC) - Illinois 21-3
184: Tony Dallago (Ill.) - Fall 5:37 - Robert Prigmore (UTC) - Illinois 27-3
197: No. 13 Mario Gonzalez (Ill.) - Dec. 4-3 - Niko Brown (UTC) - Illinois 30-3
285: Kevin Malone (UTC) - Dec. 6-3 - Patrick Walker (Ill.) - Illinois 30-6

There could be rematches at 184 and 197, based on the probably lineups. Dallago pinned UTC's Robert Prigmore (5:37) in the third period of last year's 184 contest. Gonzalez narrowly defeated the Mocs' Niko Brown (4-3) at 197.

MOCS AT THE SOUTHERN SCUFFLE
UTC had four Mocs advance to the round of 16 at the 2013 Southern Scuffle, presented by Defense Soap. Seniors Niko Brown(197) and Dean Pavlou (141) and sophomores Kevin Malone (285) and Nick Soto (125) all advanced at the national tournament held in McKenzie Arena. Pavlou and Brown made it to the quarters with Pavlou placing eighth overall. As a team, UTC finished 14th out of 24 squads.

RECENT RANKED TEAMS TO VISIT MACLELLAN GYM
The Illini are the second top-10 team to visit Maclellan Gym for a dual match with the Mocs this season. UTC fell to No. 2 Iowa 37-6 on Nov. 16.

Chattanooga has hosted a number of top-25 teams in recent years and has come away with some memorable wins. UTC pulled off a 22-15 victory over No. 12 Stanford on Nov. 20, 2011. The Mocs biggest home win in recent years was a 19-16 upset of No. 9 Ohio State on Nov. 10, 2007. Below is a list of ranked teams to visit Maclellan Gym for a dual match with the Mocs since the 1996-97 season.

No. 2 Iowa - L - 37-6 - Nov. 16, 2012
No. 2 Oklahoma State - L - 9-39 - Nov. 16, 1996
No. 7 Illinois - L - 7-37 - Jan. 16, 1999
No. 4 Illinois - L - 6-31 - Jan. 18, 2003
No. 4 Iowa State - L - 9-27 - Nov. 29, 2003
No. 15 Wisconsin - L - 12-23 - Dec. 11, 2004
No. 22 Northern Iowa - L - 18-19 - Jan. 28, 2006
No. 9 Ohio State - W - 19-16 - Nov. 10, 2007
No. 8 Missouri - L - 10-24 - Dec. 16, 2007
No. 5 Central Michigan - L - 11-26 - Feb. 17, 2008
No. 10 Oklahoma - L - 14-23 - Jan. 11, 2009
No. 2 Cornell - L - 7-32 - Feb. 1, 2009
No. 19 Missouri - L - 14-24 - Jan. 16, 2010
No. 12 Stanford - W - 22-15 - Nov. 20, 2011

SOTO & BROWN RANKED THIS WEEK
Sophomore Nick Soto is No. 7 in the WIN top-20 at 125 pounds. He also checks in at No. 9 according to Intermat and No. 10 in the AWN top-20. Soto is 13-3 overall with a 6-2 mark in dual matches. He finished second at the Wolfpack Open and won the Hokie Open earlier in the year. Senior Niko Brown is No. 16 in this week's AWN top-20 at 197 pounds. He is currently 17-1 overall and undefeated in dual matches at 7-0.

LEGENDS WEEKEND IN MACLELLAN GYM
The Mocs are set to host "Legends Weekend" Jan. 26-27. All former wrestlers, trainers, managers and coaches are invited to take part in the two-day event. There is a private reception at the Chattanooga Marriott on Saturday, Jan. 26 from 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. All retuning alumni will be honored during the Mocs match with The Citadel on Sunday, Jan. 27 at 2:00 p.m. in Maclellan Gym. Check out the letter and registration form on the sidebar of the wrestling page on GoMocs.com for more details or to sign up for the event.