Minnesota's No. 2 Leroy Vega returned to his high school, and he and his Golden Gopher teammates rolled past Purdue on Sunday.

In Portage (Ind.) H.S., No. 1 Minnesota (16-0, 5-0 Big Ten) won all but one of the bouts en route to 35-3 thumping of the No. 18 Boilermakers (13-4, 3-3).

In front of family and friends, Vega faced a tough challenger in No. 3 Chris Fleeger. Vega, who wanted to attend Purdue but didn't receive a scholarship, defeated Fleeger by a score of 8-4. The three-time All-American improved his record 25-2.

Minnesota posted a technical fall, three major decisions and a fall, to go along with four victories by way of decision. Purdue's only bright spot on the afternoon came at 165 pounds when No. 20 Oscar Santiago defeated Nate Barker, 5-3.

Purdue wrestling coach Jesse Reyes felt that his team did not give up, and saw match as time for growth.

"I'm proud of our team," Reyes said in a press release. "They wrestled hard. This is just going to be a learning experience for them to continue to train harder."

Cooper back on track, but Indiana still winless

No. 9 Coyte Cooper won a pair of matches this weekend, but the Hoosiers lost two more Big Ten dual meets, dropping their record in the conference to 0-6. Cooper has recently returned to action after recovering from injury.

"It was a good match for me," Cooper said in a press release following the Illinois match. "It was nice for me to finally come out and wrestle well since coming back from my injury. My timing is coming around and I was able to put it all together today."

Cooper pinned the Illini's Eric Novak in 4:41 seconds, following his victory on Thursday Feb. 7 against Purdue's Randy Pursley.

Indiana almost notched a win in the conference against Purdue but fell short in the final match. The Hoosiers lead 17-15, with only the 165-pound weight class remaining and the outcome still hanging in the balance. Purdue's Santiago defeated Alex LaPointe by a score of 6-1.

Clash of top three teams

The two best teams not named Minnesota will square off on Friday night. No. 3 Iowa will play host to No. 2 Michigan, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Both teams are filled with ranked wrestlers, but one of the marquee matches will take place at 149 pounds where Iowa's No. 1 Mike Zadick will face Michigan's No. 6 Mike Kulcycki. Another match up to watch is at 184-pounds, Michigan's No. 1 Andy Hrovat vs. No. 5 Jessman Smith. Iowa looks to revenge a 23-12 loss to Michigan at National Duals.