The No. 3 Illini will be without All-American gymnast Paul Ruggeri when they take on Big Ten rival No. 4 Penn State on Saturday night.

Ruggeri, the defending NCAA and national high bar champion, sustained an injury to his meniscus during the U.S. Winter Cup Challenge last weekend and had surgery Wednesday, leaving him sidelined for the next two to four weeks.

The loss of their star performer could pose a serious problem for the Orange and Blue as the Nittany Lions have the NCAA’s defending all-around champion in senior Casey Sandy.

Illinois, who suffered defeat at the hands of Penn State in the Big Ten Championships last season, has yet to compete against the Nittany Lions this season.

“In Big Ten gymnastics you talk about Illinois and Penn State. We have the most history of winning the national championships,” head coach Yoshi Hayasaki said. “We’ve been always the gymnastics of the Big Ten. I think we always have a competition between us.”

The Illini will instead need the rest of the team, such as Big Ten pommel horse champion and All-American sophomore Daniel Ribeiro, to step up as they look to earn another early season victory against Big Ten opposition. Ribeiro should be riding on a high after his second-place finish on the pommel horse at the U.S. Winter Cup Challenge.

After losing at Penn State last season, Illinois believes its time to return the favor at Huff Hall. The Orange and Blue have already proven their mettle at home, after defeating Ohio State last month.

“It always helps to have our home crowd behind our back; we have great fans,” junior Luke Stannard said. “It’s definitely going to help us, but the better team is going to win.”

The home faithful will have plenty to cheer about because this weekend’s competition will be Justin Spring Night, with Illinois paying tribute to its assistant coach and alumunus who won a bronze medal in Beijing last summer. With the first 300 guests receiving autographed photos and a question and answer session following the meet, the fans will be able to celebrate one of the most successful gymnasts in Illinois history.

The freshmen will also play a key role if the Illini are to win this weekend. They have gotten the early nerves of competing in college out of their system and are ready to play a major role on the Orange and Blue team.

“I feel really prepared; we’ve been doing a lot of routines in the gym, the new coach Ivan (Ivankov) has been helping us tremendously,” Tyler Mizoguchi said. “I don’t think we could be anymore mentally or physically prepared for this.”