After dropping two tightly contested road conference duals to No. 13 Nebraska and No. 3 Minnesota by a combined four points, a dual meet against winless conference foe Indiana at home provided the No. 6 Illinois wrestling team with a chance to regroup.

The Illini took advantage of the opportunity, collecting 35 takedowns on their way to cruising the Hoosiers 30-9 Sunday at Huff Hall.

Six Illinois wrestlers scored bonus points and the Illini claimed seven of the 10 matches, including four major decisions and one technical fall, as Illinois evened its conference record at 2-2.

Sophomore All-American Jesse Delgado got the Illini on the board first with a 24-9 major decision over Indiana’s Joe Duca to give Illinois an early 4-0 advantage.

When a dual meet starts at 125 pounds, Delgado’s consistency gives Illinois head coach Jim Heffernan confidence his team will get off to a good start.

“It’s always good to have Jesse out there first because you know what you’re gonna get and that’s always a good thing,” Heffernan said. “He does set the tone and Daryl (Thomas is) kinda doing the same thing, which is good.”

Thomas, a senior 133-pounder, kept his impressive stretch going with his technical fall of Indiana’s Alonzo Sheperd after two periods, his third consecutive victory after defeating Nebraska’s Shawn Nagel by decision and recording a major decision over Minnesota’s sixth-ranked Chris Dardanes.

Once Thomas finished off his technical fall, the rout was officially on, as Illinois closed out the remaining eight matches with five victories.

The Hoosiers did catch the Illini by surprise, though, as unranked Luke Sheridan captured a 10-5 victory over 12th-ranked Tony Dallago at 184 pounds.

Sheridan and Dallago traded takedowns for the first two periods, but Sheridan pulled away in the third with takedown that put his lead at 9-4 with little time remaining for Dallago to attempt a comeback.

“I think Tony probably tried to do too much,” his head coach said. “(He) had some opportunities to score and tried to make too much of the situation.”

With four conference dual meets remaining, Indiana was Illinois’ last unranked opponent on the schedule.

“It’s just moving forward and getting ready for the big ones,” Delgado said. “We got Penn State and Iowa next week.”

Before they face the nation’s top- and fourth-ranked teams at home, the Illini get back on the road, as the fifth-ranked Buckeyes await them in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday night.

“We’re on the right track,” Heffernan said. “I think we’re doing the right things in practice. But they’re a really good team. And just like anybody else, we need to win the toss up matches and the ones we’re favored in to have a chance.”

With their two close losses at Nebraska and Minnesota still in the back of their minds, Sunday’s victory over the Hoosiers gave the Illini a chance to work out some of the problems they had on the last road trip. Now they’ll bide their time until their next chance to show it off.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @WELINandDEALIN.