No. 21 Indiana Defeats Purdue in Thrilling Dual

Friday, February 20

Bloomington, Ind.

7:00 PM

Indiana University

Purdue

No. 21 Indiana Defeats Purdue in Thrilling Dual

2/20/2026 11:17:00 PM | Wrestling

Match Results (PDF)Photo Gallery

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. ––– No. 21 Indiana and Purdue traded wins in a drama-filled rivalry dual on Friday night (Feb. 20) at Wilkinson Hall. The Hoosiers used a strong second half to pull away and finish a 20-16 victory over Purdue.

After Purdue won at 165 lbs., Indiana trailed 13-8 and had only won two bouts. The Hoosiers picked up three key victories in a row to pull ahead with the exclamation point coming from No. 21 Gabe Sollars (197) who earned a pin in 54 seconds.

The win puts Indiana at 9-5 to finish the dual season and 4-4 in the Big Ten. It's the first time that Indiana has posted nine dual victories in a season since 2016-17 and the first time reaching four Big Ten dual wins since 2009-10.

KEY MOMENTS
• No. 14 Jacob Moran (125) started the dual off with his second-straight win by tech fall, defeating Ashton Jackson, 21-5 (4:27).
• Purdue earned two consecutive victories at 133 and 141 lbs., winning by decision and major decision, respectively to take a 7-5 lead.
• Joey Buttler (149) trailed almost the entire match but found his way to a takedown in the final 20 seconds on a strong single leg shot to defeat No. 30 Gavin Brown, by decision, 5-4.
• No. 29 Bryce Lowery (157) got off to a slow start, but picked up steam after trailing 7-0 in the first period to No. 28 Stoney Buell. Lowery clawed his way to a 9-9 score in the third period, but the riding time advantage gave Buell a 10-9 decision.
• No. 17 Tyler Lillard (165) gave reigning NCAA finalist No. 3 Joey Blaze perhaps his toughest battle of the season. Lillard gave up an early takedown to trail 3-0, but reversed Blaze to make it a 3-2 score heading into the second period.
• Lillard escaped in the second period to even the match at 3-3. In the final period, Blaze escaped and Lillard nearly scored on a few shot attempts, but Blaze came away with the 4-3 decision and gave Purdue a 13-11 advantage after six matches.
• No. 28 Derek Gilcher (174) scrapped hard against No. 16 Brody Baumann, scoring two takedowns and consistently riding Baumann hard to earn a 9-2 victory and draw IU closer, trailing 13-11 in the team score.
• No. 14 Sam Goin (184) built off that momentum and controlled the pace while dictating the offense against No. 26 James Rowley, winning in a 7-1 decision and put IU ahead 14-13.
• No. 21 Gabe Sollars (197) put the exclamation point on the momentum swing, pinning Noah Weaver in 54 seconds to seal the deal with a 7-point lead and clinch the win.

NOTABLES
• The win marked four consecutive wins in the series against Purdue.
• The four Big Ten wins in a season is the most since the 2009-10 campaign.
• Reaching nine regular season dual wins marked the team's most wins since 2016-17 when it posted a 10-9 mark.
• That was Sollars' second pin of the season and 30^th of his career.
• Moran's win improved his season record to 14-3, 11-3 in duals and it was his sixth tech fall of the year.
• Buttler's win over No. 30 Brown marked his second ranked win of the season.

MATCH RESULTS
125: No. 14 Jacob Moran (IU) def. Ashton Jackson (PU)               |TF, 21-5 (4:27) |           Score: IU up 5-0
133: Blake Boarman (PU) def. Blaine Frazier (IU)                         |Dec. 6-2 |                      Score: IU up 5-3
141: No. 31 Greyson Clark (PU) def. No. 25 Henry Porter (IU)       |MD, 8-0 |                       Score: PU up 7-5
149: Joey Buttler (IU) def. No. 30 Gavin Brown (PU)                    |Dec. 5-4 |                    Score: IU up 8-7
157: No. 28 Stoney Buell (PU) def. No. 29 Bryce Lowery (IU)        |Dec. 10-9 |                 Score: PU up 10-8
165: No. 3 Joey Blaze (PU) def. No. 17 Tyler Lillard (IU)                |Dec. 4-3 |                   Score: PU up 13-8
174: No. 28 Derek Gilcher (IU) def. No. 16 Brody Baumann (PU) |Dec. 9-2 |                  Score: PU up 13-11
184: No. 14 Sam Goin (IU) def. No. 26 James Rowley (PU)            |Dec. 7-1 |                 Score: IU up 14-13
197: No. 21 Gabe Sollars (IU) def. Noah Weaver (PU)                   |Fall (0:54) |                Score: IU up 20-13
285: Hayden Filipovich (PU) def. Matt Kowalski (IU)                     |Dec. 2-0 |                  Score: IU up 20-16
FINAL TEAM SCORE: No. 21 INDIANA 20, PURDUE 16

UP NEXT
• Indiana will send a handful of its wrestlers to the Patriot Last Chance Open for an open tournament to end the regular season hosted by George Mason on Sunday (Feb. 22).