“(Head coach Tom Minkel) just constantly tells us, ‘Find a way, find a way to win,’ and we did,” junior 174-pounder Curran Jacobs said.

Jacobs, who defeated Illinois’ Ben Friedl in a 6-5 decision, was one of six MSU wrestlers to leave the arena with a win. Coming from behind at 5-4 in the third period, Jacobs managed to grab another two points for the win.

Giving the Spartans a quick 6-0 lead, sophomore heavyweight Joe Rizqallah took the first match in a 7-3 decision over Illinois’ Pat Walker, and junior 125-pounder Eric Olanowski followed up with an 8-6 decision over Logan Arlis.

After the Fighting Illini got an 8-6 lead over MSU going into the 149-pound weight class, sophomore Dan Osterman defeated Illinois’ No. 14 Eric Terrazas, 3-2, pushing his overall record to 20-5. Osterman’s win also extended his dual meet record to 12-1, leading the team in dual wins.

“That’s a signature win for (Osterman),” Minkel said. “(He) is one of the hardest working young men in college wrestling, and … to get a win like that was huge for him and huge for us in this dual.”

Following Osterman up was freshman 157-pounder Sean McMurray, who pinned Illinois’ Jackson Morse to give the Spartans a 15-8 lead. As a true freshman, McMurray stepped up in a swing match to give MSU control, Osterman said.

“Going into it, I kind of felt like we needed to win that match to help us win the dual,” Osterman said about his performance. “Then Sean McMurray got a pin right after my match, so I feel like that just set us off to do great things.”

Standing strong in the upper half of the Spartans’ lineup, junior 184-pounder Ian Hinton defeated another ranked opponent, taking down No. 18 Tony Dallago in a 3-2 decision and putting MSU in the driver’s seat with a 21-12 lead.

Despite four MSU wrestlers losing their individual matches, Minkel said he’s convinced his team found the way to win.

“Going into this dual, we talked about we just had to find a way, and everybody contributed to finding a way,” Minkel said.

“(Freshman) Chris Lyon saved us a point at 133; (senior) Joel Trombly saved us three points at 141.”

Osterman and Jacobs agreed that sometimes the Spartans are overlooked by their opponents for not being ranked, but their overall performance on Sunday proved they’re tough enough to wrestle with the best.

With everyone sharing the same mindset going into the dual, Jacobs said MSU has been learning from its mistakes all season, and its growth as a team led to the victory.

“Overall, we came to wrestle (Sunday), and I don’t think they expected it,” he said. “We went out and wrestled extremely hard and the outcome came from just hard preparation this past week, and this is going to drive us to next week.”