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Wrestling: Photos and Mark Manning Quotes from Illini Dual

Photos from No. 8 Nebraska’s dual against Illinois; Head Coach Mark Manning gives his thoughts on the dual

Nebraska’s Ridge Lovett rolls around during the intermission with the coach’s son Sunday at the Illinois Dual at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Dylan Guenther / CORN NATION

No. 8 Nebraska vs. Illinois Dual Photos

Nebraska Head Coach Mark Manning Q&A

Nebraska Head Coach Mark Manning giving instruction to No. 10 Chad Red Jr. during an official review in a dual against Illinois’ Dylan Duncan on Feb. 13, 2022 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Dylan Guenther / CORN NATION

On freshman Jeremiah Reno’s first Big Ten win:

“I’m super excited for him because he’s fought hard all year. His first four Big Ten matches were against All-Americans, so he’s had a tough road. I like to see him get that win, and he did it in dominant fashion. You could tell his confidence was growing. That was really big, and you could see how our team is really together. I’m really happy for Jeremiah.”

On No. 10 Chad Red’s big win over No. 11 Dylan Duncan:

“He’s wrestled Dylan Duncan quite a bit, and they’ve gone back and forth and CJ (Red) has gotten more. Duncan beat him last year in the NCAA tournament when we were hurt, but he got the W. CJ might hit him again here at Big Tens, he might hit him at Nationals. CJ did a good job today, and I’d like to see him get that pin.”

On No. 10 Christian Lance against No. 17 Luke Luffman:

“He’s had some tough matches with that kid (Luffman). That kid wrestles really hard. It was a good testament to Christian Lance getting some leg takedowns. I think he just got better from that standpoint of getting some counter offense stuff that we’ve been working on. It was a big confidence booster for him.”

On freshman Dominick Serrano, as well as having freshmen start in general:

“He wrestled the best guy on their team by far (No. 5 Lucas Byrd). When you wrestle tough guys, these guys aren’t normally used to that, these guys coming out and putting it on you. You’ve got to respond. That’s hard for these guys who’ve never had that happen to them because they’ve been so dominant in high school. Welcome to the Big Ten man.”

On Iowa coming up this week:

“These duals are all about individual matchups. You win a couple matchups that are close next weekend, this place will be rocking and blowing the roof off it. Iowa is a tough team. They got tough guys up and down the lineup and a pretty veteran team.”

“They’re pretty experienced, so they’re used to a big-time environment. They’re used to that, they’re a veteran team. We’re going to have to bring great effort up and down the lineup, but our team matches up well. We’ll see if we can win a couple tight matches that we’re going to have.”

“We beat them in 2005. Most people don’t know that, but I was there. I pulled Vince Jones out of redshirt and he beat a returning national finalist (Paul Bradley), and that’s the last time we won. It’s really not a rivalry because it’s been one-sided. Until you step up, then it turns into a rivalry. They just think they’re going to just walk in and roll us, so we have to bring the fight and bring the energy next week.”

On being ready to peak in the postseason:

“I think some guys on our team are there. Other guys, we have to get them right mentally and get them in that stage where they’re going to bring it. Athletics is so fickle. Two weeks ago, a guy is down and out, and you don’t think he can whip out of a wet paper bag, then the guy beats a ranked guy. You never know in this sport, but we got to get our guys where we’re all functioning at a high level. The margin of error is slim.”