The No. 9 ranked University of Illinois wrestling team will travel to Columbia, Missouri, to face the No. 11 Missouri Tigers on Monday, November 24 at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. This match marks the second meeting between the two teams in just over a week.
In their previous encounter at the Paycom National Duals Invitational on November 16, Illinois secured a 26-18 victory over Missouri. The Illini built an early lead of 26-3 after Colin Kelly (174 pounds) won by injury default. Missouri responded with wins in the higher weight classes, including another injury default at 197 pounds and a forfeit by Illinois in the heavyweight bout due to concerns about injuries after having already clinched the dual.
Illinois’ Kannon Webster (157 pounds), ranked seventh nationally, defeated his opponent from Missouri with a 5-3 decision. Braeden Scoles (165 pounds), ranked eighth, recorded a technical fall victory with a score of 20-5.
Lucas Byrd (133 pounds), currently ranked No. 1 in his weight class, remains undefeated this season with a record of 6-0. During the National Duals, Byrd achieved five victories including a technical fall against Little Rock’s Dillon Cooper and decisions over Iowa’s Drake Ayala and Virginia Tech’s Dillon Campbell. He also pinned Missouri’s Kade Moore in just over one minute. Byrd’s win against Lehigh’s Mason Ziegler marked his 100th career victory; he now holds a career record of 102-16, ranking him twenty-fourth in program history for total wins.
Missouri began its season strongly with decisive wins over Drury, Maryville, and Central Methodist before finishing first at the Tiger Style Invite. At the National Duals Invitational, they lost to No. 3 Iowa but picked up victories against Little Rock and Michigan before dropping matches to Minnesota and Illinois.
The Tigers are led by Aeoden Sinclair (184 pounds), who is ranked second nationally as a redshirt freshman with a current record of 10-1 and has notched wins against both Illinois and Minnesota. Evan Bates (197 pounds), ranked seventeenth, has compiled ten wins this year including victories over Illinois and Minnesota as well. Zeke Seltzer (141 pounds), ranked twentieth, stands at nine wins and two losses this season.
Illinois leads the all-time series between these programs with twenty-three wins to Missouri’s thirteen since their first meeting in 1928.