Starting introductions
The Ichabods will return home to face Emporia State on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in the first edition of the Turnpike Tussle as Washburn head coach Bob Chipman will be coaching his 1,000th game on the Ichabod bench. Washburn (10-5, 5-3 MIAA) is coming off a 79-70 loss at Pittsburg State in game which there were 84 combined free throws and 54 whistles. The Hornets (8-6, 4-4 MIAA) snapped a three-game losing streak with a 61-39 win over Lincoln last time out. The Ichabods will wrap up the halfway point of the MIAA season on Wednesday at Lincoln in Jefferson City on Jan. 18 before stepping out of conference play hosting Nebraska Omaha on Jan. 21 in Lee Arena starting at 3:30 p.m.

Game Quick Facts . . .
Game No. 16 - Washburn (10-5, 5-3 MIAA) vs Emporia State (8-6, 4-4 MIAA)
Game Notes: Washburn | Emporia State
Date: Jan. 14, 2012
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Location: Topeka, Kan.
Arena: Lee Arena
Radio: KTPK 106.9 FM
Online Audio: Through wusports.com (free)
Online Video: Through America One
Television: None
Live Stats: Through wusports.com
Washburn Head Coach: Bob Chipman (Kansas State, 1973) - 706-293, 33rd season
Emporia State Head Coach: Shaun Vandiver (Colorado, 2002 - 8-6, 1st season
Series History: ESU leads 99-97
Last Meeting: ESU won 67-61 on 3/3/11 in Kansas City in the first round of the 2011 MIAA Tournament

Ichabods on radio
Washburn basketball games can be heard live on KTPK 106.9 FM. The game can also be heard on the internet at www.wusports.com by following the “Live Audio” link on the basketball schedule page. Mark Elliott will have the call on the radio with Jake Lebahn providing color commentary.

The coaches
Washburn Ichabod head basketball coach Bob Chipman is in his 33rd season at the helm of the Ichabod basketball program. Chipman is 706-293 (.707) overall and he has 465 wins since the Ichabods joined the MIAA - the most of any teams in the league since the 1991-92 season. Chipman has led the Ichabods to the MIAA Tournament 19 times collecting an all-time league-best 29 wins going 29-16 with a .675 winning percentage during tournament play. In home games, Chipman has amassed a home record of 411-77 (.840) record going 357-65 in Lee Arena and 54-12 in Whiting Fieldhouse. Chipman is 11th amongst all NCAA II coaches in winning percentage who have coached at least 10 seasons. Among that group, he is second in all-time coaching victories in active coaches in career victories. Among all coaches who have at least 10 years experience in DII, he is 25th in winning percentage and seventh in victories. At Washburn he has led the Ichabods to 11 conference regular season titles (9 MIAA), 11 NCAA Tournament appearances and the 1987 NAIA National Championship. Chipman is 46-22 against Emporia State.
Emporia State head coach Shaun Vandiver is 7-6 in his first year at ESU. The former NBA round draft pick spent the last ten years as an assistant coach at the NCAA Division I level, most recently at Boise State University. As a player he led Hutchinson CC's to the 1988 NJCAA National Championship before earning first team all-Big 8 honors at Coloado.

Last time out for the Ichabods • PSU 79, WU 70 • 1/11/12
PITTSBURG, Kan. -- The Washburn Ichabods and Pittsburg State Gorillas combined for 45 fouls and 84 free throws as the Ichabods came up on the shortend of the scoreboard in a 79-70.
With the teams tied at 44, the Gorillas pushed the lead to 57-47 with 9:48 remaining and to as many as 13 at 60-47 before a basket by Joseph Smith cut the lead to 11.
The teams traded scores with the Gorllas maintaining a 11-point lead with 8:10 remaining at 62-51. Pitt State stretched the lead to 13 with 6:47 left
Washburn pulled within 10 at 66-56 after a 3-pointer by Wiggins and a lay up by Christian Ulsaker, but the Gorillas went back to the line to hit both charity tosses pushing their lead back to 12 with 5:47 to go.
A pair of Wiggins free throws cut the lead back to 10 but following a Washburn foul, the Gorilla lead went back to 12 with 5:24 to go. After a Gorilla turnover, Will McNeill was fouled and hit both free throws trimming the deficit to seven at 70-63 with 4:33 left.
Another turnover and fastbreak layup by McNeill pulled Washburn to five with 3:43 to go in the game at 70-65. PSU went back to the line with 2:47 to go and pushed the lead back to six at 71-65. After back-to-back-to-back turnovers by the Ichabods, the Gorillas stretched the lead back to 10 at 75-65.
A jumper by Smith with 52 seconds left pulled the Ichabods back to within eight at 75-67 but would get no closer the remainder of the game.
Washburn trailed by as many as six in the first half while going nearly eight minutes from the field without a field goal, but stayed within striking distance as they were 12 of 16 from the free throw line taking advantage of 12 first half fouls called on the Gorillas. Washburn held the Gorillas to 8 of 23 from the field while outrebounding Pitt State 15 to 13 in the opening half. Jared Henry connected on a 3-pointer with eight seconds remaining in the first half giving him 12 points topping his previous season-high of five points. Henry was 3 of 5 from the field in the first half while hitting both free throws.
The Ichabods were led by McNeill who scored 18 points. He also led the Ichabods with six rebounds with three coming on each end of the court. He was the only Ichabod to reach double figures. Washburn was 27 of 34 from the free throw line while going 19 of 51 from the field hitting 37 percent for the game.
Pitt State was led by Andra Bailey who led five Gorillas in double figures with 16. Pitt State was 19 of 46 from the field and went 37 of 50 from the free throw line.
The teams were whistled for 54 fouls.     

About Emporia State
The Hornets (8-6, 4-4 MIAA) snapped a three-game slide with a 61-39 win over Lincoln in White Auditorium on Jan. 11. ESU is led by Tola Lawal who is averaging 12.8 ppg while Derrell Conner is scoring 12.1 ppg and Christ Sights is putting in 11.4 ppg. Troy Pierce leads the Hornets with 6.9 rebounds a game. Taylor Euler leads the team with 3.1 assists per game while putting in 8.4 ppg. ESU is averaging 67.3 ppg and allowing 68.0 ppg and they are -0.2 rebounds per game.
 
Series history with Emporia State
Saturday's meeting will be the 197th meeting between these two schools and the ESU leads the all-time series 99-97. This is the most-played series for Washburn. The two teams started the series in 1905-06, Washburn's first recorded year of basketball, and they have met every year since the 1945-46 season. This will be the 67th straight year they have played each other at least once. Washburn is 26-30 all-time in White Auditorium since home-away records were first kept beginning in 1956-57. The Ichabods are 19-8 against the Hornets in Lee Arena. Washburn is 25-13 against ESU in MIAA games. Washburn is 3-1 against ESU in MIAA Postseason tournament games. The teams have split the last six meetings.

Last meeting with Emporia State • WU 72, PSU 68 • 2/19/11
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Washburn Ichabods fell in their opening game of the 2011 MIAA Tournament suffering a 67-61 loss to Emporia State.
Washburn trailed by one at the break at 34-33 after ESU shot 52 percent in the first half compared to the Ichabods' 46 percent on 11 of 24 shooting. To start the second half, Washburn opened up a five-point lead on three different occassions with the final time coming at 14:09 remaining in the game on a lay up by Logan Stutz. Emporia State tied the score at 47 with 11:45 to play before Washburn's Mitch Allen hit a 3-pointer putting the Ichabods up 50-47.
The Hornets took the lead for good on their next possession after a pair of free throws by Robert Moores giving ESU a 51-50 lead with 9:38 to go in the game. Emporia would lead by as many as nine points before the Ichaobds cut the margin back to three with 2:20 to go after Virgil Philistin hit two free throws.
A free throw by Xavier Burnette stretched ESU's lead back to four but the Ichabods would missed their final five shots from the field and ESU was 2 of 4 from the free throw line to take the six-point win.
Jeff Reid led four Ichabods in double figures with 11 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the field. De'Andre Washington, Logan Stutz and Philistin each scored 10.
Robert Moores led the Hornets with 19 points.
ESU held a 20 of 32 advantage in free throws while the Ichabods were 10 of 19 during the game. Washburn out rebounded the Hornets 37 to 31 including 14 offensive rebounds leading to nine second chance points.

Last time out for Emporia State  • ESU 61, LU 39
(Jan. 11, 2012) – (ESU Media Relations) -- The Emporia State men's basketball team got 13 points and 13 rebounds from Troy Pierce as they rolled to a 61-39 victory over Lincoln. The Hornets host .521 and outrebounded the Blue Tigers 42-26 in their most lopsided win of the season.
The Hornets hit 50 percent of their shots in the first half as they ran out to a 29-19 lead at halftime. Antonio DiMaria led the Hornets with eight points in the opening half. ESU then outscored Lincoln 32-20 in the second half. The 20 points is the lowest second half output the Hornets have held an opponent to this season.
In addition to Pierce's double-double he was perfect from the field hitting six of six shots. DiMaria finished the game with 10 points and added five rebounds and five assists for the Hornets. Tola Lawal was in double figures for a team leading ninth time as he had 13 points for the Hornets. Taylor Euler added six assists for the Hornets as nine out of ten players on the active roster scored in the contest.

Bod tweets . . . 140-character or less notes on the Ichabods
• The 59 combined fouls between the Ichabods and Gorillas were the most since the Lions and Ichabods were whistled for 59 in the NCAA first round game last season #Whistleville
• The 84 free throws combined in the game with Pitt State were the most since that same NCAA game when the teams had 87 #FreeThrowShootingContest
• In Washburn's wins the Ichabods are -74 in turnovers, the losses they are +6 compared to their opponents #GoodHandsTeam
• The Ichabods are 16 of 84 (.190) from 3-point range in their four losses #Ouch
• Opponents are 37 of 109 (.339) from 3-point range in Washburn's losses #DefendTheLongBall
• Washburn is +10.6 in ppg in the paint compared to its opponents #gettheballinside
• Will McNeill (20.0 ppg) and Martin Mitchell (10.0 ppg) are the only Ichabod averaging double figures in the WU losses #NeedScoringHelp
• The game against the Hornets will be Bob Chipman's 1,000th game on the Ichabod bench recording a 706-293 record #winningformula
• Washburn is tied for first in the MIAA in defensive field goal percentage at .391 #pressureD
• The Ichabods are 2nd (9.9) in the MIAA in steals per game #BeStrongWithTheBall
• Ichabods is second inthe MIAA in rebounding defense at 31.1 rpg #Boards
• Washburn is first in the MIAA in offensive rebounds at 13.4 rpg #SecondChances
• Will McNeill is second in the MIAA in scoring and 17th in rebounding (19.6 ppg/5.3 rpg) #HeIsAGuardPeople
• Alex North is 16th in the MIAA in rebounding at 5.6 per game #GlassMan
• Bobby Chipman is 15th in the MIAA in rebounding at 5.7 rpg #Boards
• Martin Mitchell is 10th in the MIAA in scoring #ScoringWithWill
• Will McNeill is 3rd in the MIAA in FG % at .490 (102 of 208) #SelectiveShooting
• North is 9th in the MIAA in FT percentage .795 #Pure
• Will McNeill leads the MIAA in steals at 2.9 per game #QuickHands

Ichabod Player Notes
#4  • Jared Henry  • G • 6-1 • 170 • So. • Career-highs in pts (9), FGs (3), Fts (2) Mins (20) vs Pitt State
#5  • Jeff Reid  • G • 6-6 • 190 • So. • 11 off 22 from the field in the last seven games
#10  • Will McNeill  • G • 6-1 • 190 • Jr. • 130 career steals T4th on all-time chart (156 - Jordan Canfield)
#11  • Kyle Wiggins  • G • 6-2 • 165 • Fr. • Three of 6 from the field in the last two games (5.0 ppg)
#12  • Martin Mitchell  • G • 6-0 • 185 • Jr. • At least one 3-pointer in nine straight games
#14  • Christian Ulsaker  • F • 6-5 • 190 • Fr. • Six of 13 from field in last 2, 7.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, season high 8 vs PSU
#15  • Mitch Allen  • G • 5-9 • 165 • Jr. • 16 of 17 field goal attempts have been from 3-point range
#20  • Bobby Chipman  • F • 6-8 • 210 • Jr. • Three-pointers in last two games and 3 of last 4
#21  • Joseph Smith  • F • 6-9 • 235 • Jr. • Averaging 7.0 rpg and 5.8 ppg in last three contests
#22  • Alex North  • F • 6-6 • 210 • So. • Six of 19 from field and 4 of 11 from 3-point range (8.0 ppg)
#24  • Zack Riggins  • F • 6-6 • 230 • RS-Jr. • Three of 4 from the field in the last two games (4.5 ppg)

Ichabod Basketball HIstory
Washburn is 1,414-979 (.590 in 2,393 games) in its 106th season of intercollegiate action. The Ichabods are the 10th-winningest team in NCAA Division II history and the 26th winningest team this decade. The Ichabods are 465-209 since joining the NCAA Division II ranks, which is the most since the 1989-90 season in the MIAA.

Home sweet home . . . the Ichabods in Lee Arena
The Ichabods are 357-65 (.848) all-time in Lee Arena - the 28th season of play. The Ichabods recorded a school-best 28-game winning streak from Nov. 19, 1993 to Feb. 8, 1995 in Lee Arena.

Up Next
The Ichabods will wrap up the halfway point of the MIAA season on Wednesday at Lincoln in Jefferson City on Jan. 18 before stepping out of conference play hosting Nebraska Omaha on Jan. 21 in Lee Arena starting at 3:30 p.m.