Opening Tip
•     The Washburn Ichabods will face Fort Hays State on Saturday on Schendel Court at Lee Arena looking to snap a two-game losing streak.
•    The Ichabods (10-12, 5-6 MIAA) are coming off an 87-86 overtime loss to Nebraska-Kearney on Thursday in Topeka.
•    The Tigers topped Fort Hays State on Wednesday night 66-44 in Emporia to improve to 13-7 overall and 6-5 in the MIAA.
•    Currently there is four-way tie for first in the MIAA with Nebraska-Kearney, Missouri Southern, Pittsburg State and Lindenwood all with 8-3 records.
•    Central Missouri and Northwest Missouri tied for fifth with 7-4 marks.
•    Fort Hays State and Central Oklahoma are tied for seventh in the standings and Missouri Western and Washburn are tied for ninth overall.
•    The Ichabods fell to 33-32 all-time in overtime games with the loss to Nebraska-Kearney and 13-9 in overtime games at home. It was the fifth time the Ichabods and Lopers had gone into overtime and the Ichabods now hold a 3-2 advantage over UNK in extra-minute games.
•    Kyle Wiggins became the 22nd person to go over the 1,000-point mark for his career against the Mules  and he now has 1,105 points in four years … his point total is 13th all-time at Washburn after passing Todd Alexander (1990-93) and Tom Carlson (1944-49) who each scored 1,099 points against Nebraska-Kearney last time out … next on the chart is Mike Dickerson who scored 1,130 points from 1986-90.
•    Kyle Wiggins needs one 3-pointer to reach 100 for his career …he ranks 13th overall in 3-pointers at Washburn.
•    Alex North needs four points to reach 1,000 for his career entering the game with 996 points. In Washburn's 110-year of men's basketball, only 22 players have reached the 1,000-point mark. 
•    The Ichabods have never had two different players go over the 1,000-point mark in the same season.
•    The Ichabods hit the road on Wednesday for a game at Emporia State on Feb. 4 and then they will face Nebraska-Kearney for the second time in 10 days when they will travel to Kearney to battle the Lopers on Feb. 7.  
•    This season Kyle Wiggins is averaging 14.2 ppg improving his scoring to 18.7 ppg during MIAA play.
•    The Ichabods have 30 regular season games scheduled this season and also had three exhibition games against NCAA Division I members Kansas, Kansas State and Oklahoma to have 33 games before the MIAA Tournament starts.
•    The Ichabods have used 12 different starting line ups this season.
    
 Bod Notes
•    Alex North has recorded 15 double doubles in his career at Washburn with his last one coming against Northeastern State on Jan. 24 … he scored his 950th career point against Pittsburg State and has played in 108 games with 75 starts … he went over the 600-rebound mark for his career against Central Missouri … he has 996 career points averaging 9.2 ppg in his career and 6.0 rpg at Washburn … his 111 career 3-pointers at Washburn are tied for ninth all-time with Jeff Reid … his 646 career rebounds are fifth all-time at Washburn … he has reached double figure scoring in 45 games as an Ichabod.
•    Kyle Wiggins has averaged 10.2 ppg in 108 games making 66 starts … he went over the 1,000-point mark against Central Missouri … he also has gone over the 200-rebound mark for his career and has 234 and he went over the 200-assist mark in Hawaii and has 238 for his career … his 1,105 career points is 13th all-time at Washburn … he became just the seventh Ichabod to record at least 1,000 points and have 200 assists in a career.
•    Ichabod junior Christian Ulsaker is averaging 6.3 points with 3.9 rebounds a game this season seeing his first action in almost a month against Baker last time out after suffering a broken jaw against Missouri Southern … he recorded his first career double double against Peru State with 10 points and 10 rebounds and made his fifth start of the season against Nebraska-Kearney recording a career-high six assists and four steals.
•    The Ichabods have hit at least one 3-pointer in 332 games … the last game the Ichabods did not hit a 3-pointer was Dec. 30, 2003 at Missouri Western.
•    Algie Key had a season-high 22 points in the loss at BYU-Hawaii adding five assists … against Nebraska-Kearney he tied a career high with three blocks … he is averaging 8.7 points and 3.8 rebounds a game in his first season at Washburn after transferring from Alabama.
•    Turon Parker is scoring 6.6 ppg this season adding 35 assists and 15 steals in his first season as an Ichabod … he had a season-high eight rebounds against Tabor.
•    Kevin House leads the team with 42 assists this season while adding 4.5 points and 1.8 rebounds per game … he is 40 of 47 from the free throw line this season for a team-high 85 percent.
•    Jeremy Lickteig scored a career-high 19 points against Northwest Indian College going 9 of 10 from the field … he made his first career start against BYU-Hawaii.
•    The Ichabods are 131 of 403 from 3-point range this season with Kyle Wiggins hitting a team-high 32 of 80 attempts … Alex North has hit 25 of 72 attempts and Andy Wilson has hit 18 of 55 attempts … Ichabod opponents are 177 of 457 from 3-point range this season.
•    Brady Skeens recorded a season-high 14 points in his second game of the season against Tabor after having his planned redshirt pulled prior to the Rockhurst game and recorded a season-high four blocks against Central Oklahoma.
•    David Salach has started 10 games this season has averaged 3.8 rebounds a game this season and he is averaging 4.4 rebounds per game in MIAA play, which is second behind Alex North's 6.9 rebounds in during league play.
•    Washburn is 306 of 464 from the free throw line for a 66 percent average while its opponents are 330 of 463 hitting 71 percent of their charity stripe attempts … in MIAA play the Ichabods have improved to 159 of 228 from the line for a 70 percent average while opponents are 150 of 213 in MIAA play for a 70 percent average.
•    Washburn is +1.8 in rebounding margin and have been outrebounded in nine games this season.
•    The Ichabods have outscored their opponents 708 to 639 in the first half of games, but have been outscored 875 to 841 in the second half of games.

 Ichabods on Radio
Washburn games will be broadcast on AM580 WIBW radio with Jake Lebahn calling the action and color commentary from Pat Strathman. Game will also be streamed live on the wusports.com website by following the listen live links on the men's basketball schedule page.

The Coaches
Washburn Ichabod head basketball coach Bob Chipman 
•     is in his 36th season at the helm of the Ichabods.
•     a 1973 graduate of Kansas State earning both his undergraduate and master's degree in Manhattan.
•     is 767-326 overall.
•     has 526 wins since the Ichabods joined the MIAA, the most of any conference school since the 1989-90 season.
•    is the MIAA's all-time winningest coach by victories with 526.
•     has led the Ichabods to 12 MIAA regular season titles and a MIAA-coaching tops of five postseason MIAA tournament championships.
•     has led the Ichabods to 12 NCAA National Tournament appearances.
•     in home games, he is 446-85 going 395-74 in Lee Arena.
•     is second in all-time coaching victories in active NCAA Division II coaches.
•     his 767 coaching wins is 22nd in all-time NCAA coaches at all levels.
•     led the Ichabods to the 1987 NAIA National Championship and a 2001 NCAA National game, which was later vacated by Kentucky Wesleyan. 
•     Chipman played for legendary coach Jack Hartman earning two letters.

Fort Hays State head basketball coach Mark Johnson
•      is 281-121 in his career, now in his 14th season at Fort Hays State. 
•      Johnson became just the third coach in FHSU history to reach 200 wins in men's basketball on February 5, 2011 with a win over Washburn in Hays. 
•      He joined Cade Suran (257) and Bill Morse (235) as the only coaches to reach 200 wins at FHSU. 
•      Johnson is the second-fastest to 200 wins among the three, as Morse reached the mark in just 241 games, while Johnson did it in 285 games. 
•      He is 11-8 against the Ichabods.


 Last Time Out For The Ichabods
Nebraska-Kearney 87, washburn 86 (ot) • Jan. 29, 2015
TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team fell in overtime to Nebraska-Kearney 87-86 on Thursday on Schendel Court at Lee Arena in a game which saw 16 lead changes and 19 ties. 
Neither team scored in the first minute of the overtime period until Christian Ulsaker hit a pair of free throws with four minutes to play in the game staking the Ichabods to a 78-76 lead. The Lopers hit a layup and a 3-pointer and added a free throw over the next 1:39 as UNK took an 82-78 lead with 1:19 to play. A 3-pointer by Alex North with 57 seconds to play cut the lead to one. UNK would go up by four with nine seconds to play and then with three seconds left a layup by Kyle Wiggins cut the lead to two at 85-83. After a quick foul by the Ichabods, the Lopers hit two free throws to go up four 87-83 and Wiggins hit a 3 at the buzzer to cut the final margin to one as time expired on Washburn.
Washburn (10-12, 5-6 MIAA) and the Lopers (13-5, 8-3 MIAA) were tied at the half as well at 34 each after neither team would lead by more than six in the game.
Wiggins led all scorers with a game-high 28 points on 10 of 17 shooting from the field playing a career-high 41 minutes. North scored 17 adding nine rebounds to move his career point total to 996 as an Ichabod. Jeremy Lickteig and Christian Ulsaker each scored nine and Ulsaker recorded a career-high six assists and career-high four steals. Algie Key had a career-high three blocks. 
Ethan Brozek led five Lopers in double figures with 23 points. Connor Beranek had 19 and Ty Danielson had 15.
Washburn was 30 of 63 for the game for a 48 percent average while the Lopers were 31 of 63 for a 49 percent clip. The Lopers shot 46 percent from 3-point range going 10 of 22 overall while Washburn was 5 of 15. The Ichabods were 21 of 27 from the free throw line while the Lopers finished 15 of 22. The Lopers also held a 34 to 32 advantage on the glass turning 12 offensive rebounds into 13 second chance points. 

 About Fort Hays State
•    The Tigers are 13-7 and 6-5 in the MIAA and sit one place ahead of the Ichabods in the MIAA standings with a 6-5 league mark.
•    Leading scorer Craig Nicholson has missed the last four games for the Tigers after suffering a leg injury … he was averaging 14.9 ppg and 5.6 assists per game.
•    Royce Williams has averaged 10.5 ppg and Achoki Moikobu is scoring 9.7 ppg and Dom Samac is scoring 9.6 with a balanced scoring attack.
•    The Tigers are +6.5 in rebounding average this season.
•    The Tigers are coming off a 66-44 win over Emporia State last time out on Jan. 28.
•    FHSU is shooting 49 percent from the field hitting 556 of 1129 attempts and have hit 17 more 3-pointers than its opponents have this season.

 Series History with Fort Hays State
•    Washburn leads the all-time series 89-67 and Saturday's meeting will be the 159th between the two schools. 
•      The Ichabods have won six of the last seven in the series.
•      The series is the third-most played for Washburn behind Emporia State (203) and Pittsburg State (174). 
•      Washburn is 18-5 against the Tigers in Lee Arena. 
•      Fort Hays State is 5-2 against WU in overtime games. 
•      The teams have only met once in the MIAA Tournament with the Ichabods winning 67-54 in the MIAA Tournament semifinals on March 3, 2012 in Kansas City.
•    The Ichabods have won the last three meetings in Lee Arena.
•    The Tigers' last win in Topeka was on Dec. 8, 2010 in a 70-58 win.

 Last meeting with Fort Hays State
(Feb. 19, 2014) TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Washburn Ichabods outshot Fort Hays State 64 percent to 57 percent in the second half and was perfect from the line in a 79-70 win over the Tigers snapping a three-game losing streak in the regular season home finale. 
A traditional 3-point play by Korey Fisher stretched a four-point Ichabod (16-8, 9-8 MIAA) lead into a 70-63 lead with 2:40 to play in the game. The Tigers came back with a pair of free throws with 2:27 left to trim the lead back to five. Then Alex North picked up one of Washburn's four offensive rebounds on the night and his tip in with 1:47 remaining gave the ichabods a seven-point cushion. The Tigers (20-5, 11-5 MIAA) came right back when Tomislaw Gabric hit a 3-pointer cutting the Ichabod lead back to four with 1:34 to play.
Jeff Reid hit two free throws stretching the lead back to six, but a Tiger bucket with 1:12 remaining cut the lead back to four. On Washburn's next possession, the lone senior Leon Flowers hit a 3-pointer with 42 seconds left putting Washburn up 79-70 and a lay up by Kyle Wiggins wrapped up the Ichabod scoring putting the final margin at nine in a 79-70 win.
Washburn led 36-31 at the break after hitting 14 of 28 shots while holding the Tigers to 10 of 33 shooting.
North led four Ichabods in double figures with 21 points adding eight rebounds and six assists with three blocks and two steals. Fifteen of his points came in the second half as he finished 9 of 10 from the field in the game. Fisher had 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting adding four assists and Reid finished with 16 points and eight rebounds with four assists and three blocks. Flowers finished with 14 points going 4 of 5 from 3-point range.
The Tigers were led by Craig Nicholson who had 16 points.
Washburn finished 30 of 53 from the field for a season-high 57 percent average while the Tigers were 26 of 61 for a 43 percent clip. Washburn was outrebounded 30 to 28. Washburn also finished a perfect 11 of 11 from the free throw line and the Tigers were 13 of 17 overall. 

 Last time out for Fort Hays State
(Jan. 28, 2015) Fort Hays State men's basketball turned in a strong defensive effort at Emporia State on Wednesday night (Jan. 28), winning by a score of 66-44. The Tigers claimed their seventh-straight win over the Hornets and fourth straight in Emporia. FHSU is now 13-7 overall, 6-5 in the MIAA, while ESU dropped to 9-11 overall, 2-9 in the MIAA.
After Emporia State led 7-3 early, the FHSU went on an 11-0 run to claim a 14-7 lead. The Tigers never relinquished their lead following the run, eventually building a 28-20 lead by halftime.
The Tigers opened the second half on a 9-0 run, holding ESU scoreless for the first 5:42 of the period. The pushed the lead to 17 points and ESU would not get closer than 12 the rest of the way. A FHSU 14-2 run pushed the Tigers' lead to 24 points, its largest with 8:53 to go.
Fort Hays State held Emporia State to exactly 33.3 percent shooting in both the first and second halves. The Hornets shot only 19 percent from beyond the 3-point line, hitting just 4-of-21 attempts.
Even with the lower scoring game, the Tigers were efficient on the offensive end, shooting 53.1 percent overall. They were also efficient beyond the 3-point line, hitting 7-of-13 attempts (53.8 percent).
James Fleming led the Tigers with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field, which included two 3-pointers, and a 3-of-3 effort at the free-throw line. Jake Stoppel added 10 points, while Achoki Moikobu and Jared Tadlock each had nine. Moikobu pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and Fleming dished out a team-high five assists.

  Ichabod basketball history
•     The Ichabods are 1477-996-4 (.591) all-time in the 110th year in the program's history.
•     Washburn is the eighth-winningest program in NCAA Division II history by victories.
•     Washburn is the winningest MIAA program since the 1989-90 season with an overall record of 526-242 since joining the conference and the NCAA.
•    The Ichabods have recorded 25 20-win seasons and they have one 30-win seasons after going 35-4 during the 1986-87 NAIA Championship season.
•    Washburn has won 21 conference championships including 10 MIAA titles.
•    Washburn has received 12 NCAA Tournament bids going to three Elite Eight's appearing in the 2001 NCAA National Championship game.

Home sweet home
•     The Ichabods are 395-74 (.848) all-time in Lee Arena.
•     The 2014-15 season marks the 30th season of play in Lee Arena.
•     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 be at Emporia State on Feb. 4 and then they will face Nebraska-Kearney for the second time in 10 days when they will travel to Kearney to battle the Lopers on Feb. 7.