Earlier this season, the Illinois wrestling team responded to its loss at Iowa by reeling off four consecutive victories.

A week after losing to Minnesota, the No. 6 Illini have started down a similar path, defeating a resilient Michigan State team 26-13 Sunday at Huff Hall.

“This team, and the expectations we hold for each guy, we shouldn’t be having that kind of performance,” associate head coach Mark Perry said. “But it’s a grind, it’s a mental grind, and I think right now our guys need to get tough. It’s a challenge out to these guys that it’s that time of year. This is the time you got to be excited to wrestle.”

No. 5 Jesse Delgado showed that excitement, rousing the crowd with his 15-6 major decision at 125 pounds, giving the Illini an early 4-0 lead.

Junior B.J. Futrell kept the momentum alive, pinning his opponent 2:37 seconds into the first round, pushing his personal win streak to seven.

With the crowd getting louder with every point he picked up, junior Daryl Thomas dominated his 141-pound bout en route to a 24-10 major decision, capping off a quick 14-0 start for the Orange and Blue.

Despite the deficit and noise on the road, the Spartans responded, pinning senior Eric Terrazas and receiving a major decision over sophomore Jackson Morse, cutting the lead to 14-10.

After trading decisions at 165 and 174 pounds, the score stood 17-13 Illinois with three matches remaining.

Sophomores Tony Dallago and Mario Gonzalez were not going to let another late lead slip away like they did in Iowa City. Dallago and No. 16 Gonzalez each won their bouts, resulting in a 23-13 lead they would never relinquish.

Gonzalez may have clinched the victory, but that was the last thing that was on the sophomore’s mind.

“In my mind I was thinking I could put him away early, but that didn’t happen so I just kept on wrestling,” he said. “I don’t want to think too much and put too much pressure on myself. I kept it in the back of my mind though, I need a win in order for us to seal the dual meet out, so it felt good.”

Reflecting on the meet, Perry attributed the Illini’s struggles to a lack of mental toughness.

“This is a sport about mental toughness, and that’s what we gotta continue to preach,” Perry said. “Ideally for these guys to win in March, that’s what’s gonna win for a lot of them.”

The victory did not go according to the blueprint, but the team has plenty to learn from going forward.

“I know I wasn’t satisfied along with the coaches because we underperformed in a couple matches and we still got a lot of things to get better at,” Gonzalez said. “A win is a win, but we still got a lot to work on.”

Perry agrees.

“We’ll take the win, we’ll move forward. We got to be a lot more ready next week,” Perry said.

The Illini will continue their homestand next week as they battle conference foe and in-state rival No. 18 Northwestern.