Opening Tip
•     The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team is back on the road for two more games this week starting with Pittsburg State on Dec. 16 in John Lance Arena with tip scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
•    Washburn (6-2, 2-1 MIAA) topped Southwest Baptist 59-57 holding the Bearcats to 19 points under their season scoring average in the win.
•    The Gorillas have lost their last two games falling at Missouri Western on Dec. 10 69-66 at Northwest Missouri last time out on Dec. 13 73-48.
•    The Gorillas are 3-0 at home this season.
•    The Ichabods have won 13 of the last 15 meetings and six of the last seven against the Gorillas.
•    The home team in the series between the Ichabods and the Gorillas are 31-8 in the last 39 regular season meetings, dating back to 1996-97. 
•    The Ichabods are averaging 17.2 ppg off opponent's turnovers compared to 14.1 ppg opponents are scoring off the Ichabods.
•    Washburn's bench is averaging 27.4 ppg compared to 23.4 ppg for its opponents.
•    Washburn is scoring 36.0 ppg in the paint compared to 22.0 ppg for its opponents.
•    The Ichabods are averaging 7.5 ppg in fast break points compared to 4.4 for their opponents.
•    In Washburn's six wins this season, they have overcome deficits of 14 against Augustana, 11 against Peru State and Fort Hays State, five against Southwest Baptist and four against Saint Mary.
•    Washburn's only win they led from start to finish was against Tabor.

 Ichabod Notes
•    Overall the Ichabods have a balanced scoring attack with four players averaging at least 9.5 points per game and they have five averaging at least 7.1 ppg.
•    The Ichabods are +6.0 in rebound margin this season.
•    Javion Blake tied a season-high with five field goals and 12 attempts against Southwest Baptist.
•    Jeremy Lickteig tied a career-high with two steals against the Bearcats.
•    Brady Skeens tied a career-high with 13 rebounds and seven free throw attempts against Southwest Baptist.
•    Andy Wilson tied a career with three free throws and four free throw attempts against Southwest Baptist.
    
 Ichabods on Radio
Washburn games will be broadcast on KTPK radio with Jake Lebahn and Pat Strathman calling the action. 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 37th season at the helm of the Ichabods.
•     a 1973 graduate of Kansas State earning both his undergraduate and master's degree in Manhattan.
•     is 779-332 overall.
•     has 537 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 537.
•     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 457-86 going 406-75 in Lee Arena.
•     is second in all-time coaching victories in active NCAA Division II coaches.
•     his 779 coaching wins is 23rd 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.

Pittsburg State head coach Kevin Muff . . .
•    is in his sixth season leading the Gorillas. 
•    became the Gorillas' 14th all-time head coach on Apr. 5, 2010, after spending 12 seasons at Cloud County Community College, where he helped the Thunderbirds to an average of 21 wins in each of the last five seasons. 
•    has an 83-70 (.550) record in his tenure with the Gorillas.
•    is 2-8 against Washburn.

  Last Time Out For The Ichabods
Washburn 59, Southwest Baptist 57 -- Dec. 12, 2015
TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team held off an 11-5 run by Southwest Baptist over the final 5:15 of the game to pick up a 59-57 win over the Bearcats in Lee Arena on Saturday in their only home game in the month of December. 
With Washburn holding a 54-46 lead with 5:16 to play, the Bearcats would go on a 11-6 run to tie the score with 26 seconds to play after a pair of free throws by Logan Hovey knotting the score at 57-57. On the ensuing play, Washburn ran the clock down and Christian Ulsaker found Brady Skeens under the basket with one second to play as Skeens hit the layup putting Washburn up 59-57 and he was fouled on the play. Skeens missed the free throw and after an SBU timeout, Andy Wilson picked off the inbounds pass as time expired as the Ichabods improved to 6-2 on the season and 2-1 in the MIAA.
Washburn led by as many as 13 in the second half using a 13-0 run to start the second half building a 47-35 lead over the Bearcats.
Both teams struggled in the early going as they combined for a 18 of 45 shooting mark in the first half as the Ichabods took a 30-28 lead into the break at the half. Ten different Ichabods scored in the first half with none collecting more than eight.
Javion Blake led the Ichabods with 14 points and Skeens recorded his second-straight double double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Wilson scored 12 off the bench for Washburn. SBU (6-3, 2-2 MIAA) was led by Hovey's 14 points and seven rebound.
Washburn finished 19 of 47 from the field and was 19 of 34 from the free throw line in the game including 8 of 19 in the second half. Washburn outrebounded the Bearcats 34-31 in the game.   

 About Pittsburg State
•    The Gorillas are 7-3 overall and 2-2 in the MIAA after falling in their last two road games at Missouri Western (69-66) and at Northwest Missouri (73-48).
•    The Gorillas are led by Josiah Gustafson's 16.4 ppg and Trey Starks and Dakota Jones are each scoring 12.2 ppg. 
•    As a team the Gorillas are scoring 78.2 ppg while allowing 75.8 ppg and they are +5.1 in rebounding margin.
•    The Gorillas are shooting .502 from the field hitting 260 of 518 shots and have hit 53 of 152 3-pointers.
•    Pitt State has also attempted 45 more free throws than its opponents hitting 199 of 273 overall for a .729 percentage.
•    Opponents have hits 20 more 3-pointers (83-63) than the Gorillas this season.
 
 Series History with Pittsburg State
• Saturday's meeting will be the 177th between these two schools in a series that dates back to the first meeting on Feb. 19, 1920.
•      The two games on Feb. 19 and Feb. 20 of 1920 were both played in Topeka inside an empty Thomas Gymnasium because of a flu outbreak in Topeka.
•      Washburn leads the all-time series 100-76.  
•      The Ichabods have won the last 13 of the last 15 meetings including six of the last seven. 
•  The Ichabods are 30-2 in Lee Arena against PSU and 31-14 against the Gorillas in MIAA play. The home team is 31-8 in the last 39 regular season meetings, dating back to 1996-97. 
•      The series goes back to 1919-20 and it has been played at least once a year since 1941-42. 
•  Since the 1956-57 season, the Ichabods are 25-30 in Pittsburg while going 9-11 in Pittsburg since becoming a member of the MIAA. 

 Last meeting with Pittsburg State
(Feb. 28, 2015) TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Washburn Ichabods wrapped up a first round MIAA Tournament home game after beating Pittsburg State 63-48 on Saturday in Lee Arena. 
In a close game in which neither team led by more than five points in the first half, Washburn (15-15, 10-9 MIAA) used a 7-0 burst to take at 15-11 lead halfway through the frame before the Gorillas cut it back to a 1-point Ichabod lead at 20-19 with 5:06 left in the half. Washburn would continue to lead the rest of the half taking a 26-24 advantage into the halftime locker room. Washburn hit 9 of 28 shots in the first half while the Gorillas were 11 of 30 overall, but 0 of 8 from 3-point range while Washburn was 3 of 11 and hit three more free throws.
Coming out of the break in the second half, the Gorillas (16-11, 12-7 MIAA) scored the first six points of the half building a 30-26 lead and a 32-28 lead before a 3-pointer by Andy Wilson cut the lead to one and the Ichabods regained the lead at 33-32 after a tip in by David Salach. After the teams traded baskets, the score would be tied at 39 with 11:58 to play before a 12-0 run by the Ichabods over the next 4:08 put Washburn up 12 and the Gorillas would not get any closer than nine the rest of the way as the Ichabods would go on to lead by as many as 18 in the half leading to the 15 point win. Korey Fisher and Kyle Wiggins led a balanced Ichabod attack with 13 points and Wilson scored 12 hitting four 3-pointers. Alex North scored eight with six rebounds. Kevin House had nine points and a team high seven rebounds and dished our four assists.
Devon Brach scored 13 to lead Pitt State.
Washburn finished 13 of 29 in the second half en route to 39 percent from the field shooting while the Gorillas finished 37 percent overall going 20 of 54 from the field. The Ichabods finished 11 of 12 from the free throw line while Pitt State was 5 of 11 from the stripe.
Washburn's bench also outscored the Gorillas 29 to 17 and turned 15 Pitt State turnovers into 16 points.  

 Last time out for Pittsburg State
(Dec. 13, 2015) MARYVILLE, Mo. -- The Pitt State men's basketball team fell to Northwest Missouri on the road, 73-48, on Sunday (December 13) in Maryville.
Trevor Gregory led the Gorillas with 13 points. Josiah Gustafson added nine and Denton Hays, eight. Gustafson led the team with six rebounds. Javis Flynn had five assists.
The Gorillas committed 17 turnovers in the game, which the Bearcats turned in to 19 points. Justin Pitts topped three Northwest players in double figures with 19.
After a 5-5 tie early in the game, Northwest Missouri went on a 6-0 run to take a lead that they never lost. They used small runs and a five minute Pitt State scoring drought to build to a double digit lead, 24-14, with 5:54 to go in the half. Pitt State allowed only one free throw from the Bearcats after that, while cutting their lead to only six. Northwest's Anthony Woods hit a jumper with only six seconds left in the half to make the halftime score, 28-20.
Pitt State was able to keep the Bearcats close in the second half until some scoring woes and a 7-0 Bearcat run put the home team up 62-43. Pitt State was not able to hit a shot from the floor from 8:29 until the end of the game, but connected on nine free throws during that span. 
 
 Ichabod basketball history
•     The Ichabods are 1,511-1,038-2 (.592) all-time in the 111th 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 537-251 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 406-75 (.848) all-time in Lee Arena.
•     The 2015-16 season marks the 31st 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 return to the road on Dec. 19 at Missouri Southern wrapping up action until Jan. 2 when the Ichabods will host Lindenwood in Lee Arena.