When senior Roger Smith-Bergsrud gave up a reversal with 35 seconds left in the match in a 7-4 loss on Senior Day, Illinois head coach Mark Johnson was so upset he immediately turned around and kicked a chair.

The loss led to an early 9-8 deficit for the Illini, but the usually calm and composed Johnson was more focused on his 165-pound senior walking away from his final Huff Hall appearance with a win.

“When you have to say bye to your seniors, it’s a sad day regardless of whether you win or lose,” Johnson said.

“It was important to us to send these guys out in the right way.”

The moment was a rare outburst of frustration for Johnson on Sunday, as his No. 9 Illini wrestling team (13-2, 6-2 Big Ten) recovered to handily defeat Michigan State (6-10, 1-7), 26-12.

The win was the latter part of a weekend sweep of home meets, as the team defeated No. 17 Michigan (10-8-1, 5-2-1) 20-15 on Friday.

In the regular season finale, fellow seniors Mike Poeta and John Wise both notched wins to help Illinois remain perfect at home on the season. The three seniors combined to win five of six matches on the weekend.

“Those three have meant a lot to this program for a long, long time. We’re not just talking three quality wrestlers, we’re talking about three quality people,” Johnson said.

After Smith-Bergsrud lost at 165 pounds, the Illini erased the 9-8 deficit by winning five straight matches to take a 26-9 lead. In that span, John Dergo, Patrick Bond, Wise and B.J. Futrell all posted decisions while Jordan Blanton registered his eighth pin of the season.

“In a 10-match meet, you don’t want to take any chances with upsets. We had a few mismatches today, so I told the guys to look for and get those bonus points when you can,” Johnson said.

“The guys did a good job of going out there and really attacking.”

Wise once again played the role of closer, as his 6-1 decision over Michigan State’s Steve Andrus clinched the victory for the Illini.

Two nights earlier against the Wolverines, Wise headed into the final match with the Illini leading 17-15, and the heavyweight sealed the win with a 7-2 decision over Michigan’s Eddie Phillips.

Johnson, who was a two-time All-American at Michigan during his wrestling days, watched as his grapplers took six of ten matches against the Wolverines on Friday and seven of ten against the Spartans on Sunday.

In front of a season-best crowd of 1,409 at Huff Hall on Friday night, the Illini notched 25 takedowns en route to their first win over Michigan in six years.

After the Wolverines took a 6-4 lead, the Illini won three straight matches and scored 10 straight points to bring the score to 14-6.

Freshman Eric Terrazas started it off with his first collegiate Big Ten win, a 14-5 major decision over Michigan’s Mark Beaudry.

Terrazas was on the attack throughout the match, gaining two minutes of riding time by the end of the first period and notching a total of seven takedowns in the match.

“The crowd was absolutely unbelievable,” Terrazas said.

“Going out and when you’re trying to fight for the major decision at the end, they were fueling me to go out and get it done.”

Poeta and Smith-Bergsrud followed Terrazas’s major decision with a pair of wins.

Over the three-match win streak for the Illini, the three grapplers combined for a total of 15 takedowns while holding Michigan to zero.

“It’s been a tough stretch against some pretty good teams, but that’s Big Ten season for you,” Johnson said.

“We’ve had guys improving, and we’ve had some success but the important thing is that the effort is still there.”