Opening Tip
•     The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team returns home on Wednesday looking to snap a two-game losing streak hosting Missouri Western at 7:30 p.m. in Lee Arena.
•    The Ichabods (9-5, 5-4 MIAA) lost at Central Oklahoma last time out on Jan. 9 in overtime 98-92 in their third overtime game in the last four contests.
•    Missouri Western (5-10, 3-6 MIAA) lost at home to Northwest Missouri 66-60 on Jan. 9.
•    The Ichabods lead the series with the Griffons 50-35 and have won the last three meetings.
•    Washburn is 21-10 against the Griffons in Lee Arena and 28-12 in games played in Topeka overall.
•    The Griffons are 0-5 in away games this season and 0-1 in neutral site games going 5-4 in home contests.
•    The Ichabods have played in three overtime games this season going 2-1. Washburn is 33-33 all-time in overtime games. The Ichabod single season record for overtime games is five set during the 1994-95 and 2006-07 seasons.
•    The Ichabods have given up 22 offensive rebounds in each of the last two games.
•    In Washburn's nine wins this season they are averaging 79.4 ppg while allowing 70.9 ppg … in the five losses they are averaging 71.2 ppg while allowing 84.4 ppg.
•    In Washburn's nine wins they are +10.9 in rebound margin, while in the losses they are -11.0 on the glass.
•    From the field in the Ichabod wins, they are shooting 47 percent while opponents are shooting 39 percent … from the free throw line the Ichabods are 65 percent in the wins and 68 percent in the losses.
•    From 3-point land the Ichabods are shooting 52 of 147 (35 percent) in the wins and only 27 percent in the losses (24 of 90) … opponents are shooting 57 of 135 (42 percent) in the Ichabods' five losses.
•    The Ichabods are averaging 16.1 ppg off opponent's turnovers compared to 13.4 ppg opponents are scoring off the Ichabods.
•    Ichabod head coach Bob Chipman recorded his 782nd win against Lincoln moving him into 15th all-time on all-time NCAA coaching list passing former Arizona Wildcat head coach Lute Olson and Lou Henson who coached at Illinois and New Mexico State.
•    Next up on the all-time NCAA coaching chart is Lefty Driesell and Jim Smith with 786 wins.
•    Washburn's bench is averaging 23.1 ppg compared to 26.5 ppg for its opponents.
•    Washburn is scoring 33.7 ppg in the paint compared to 23.3 ppg for its opponents.
•    In Washburn's nine wins this season, they have overcome deficits of 14 against Augustana, 11 against Peru State, Fort Hays State and Lincoln, eight against Pittsburg State, six against Lindenwood, five against Southwest Baptist and four against Saint Mary.
•    Washburn's only win they led from start to finish was against Tabor.
•    The eight point lead against Northeastern State was the largest lead the Ichabods had given up in a loss.

 Ichabod Notes
•    Overall the Ichabods have a balanced scoring attack with four players averaging at least 8.9 points per game and they have six averaging at least 6.1 ppg.
•    Washburn is eighth in the MIAA in scoring at 76.5 ppg and eighth in scoring defense allowing 75.7 ppg.
•    Washburn is second in the MIAA in field goal percentage defense holding opponents to 41 percent shooting.
•    The Ichabods are +3.1 in rebound margin this season, which is fourth in the MIAA … the Ichabods led the MIAA in rebounding at 39.6 per game and second in the league in offensive rebounds at 13.0 per game.
•    Christian Ulsaker has played in 101 games at Washburn in his career.
•    Javion Blake scored a career high 23 at Central Oklahoma hitting 8 field goals and five 3-pointers which were also career highs.
•     Tyas Martin had a career-high 12 points at Central Oklahoma and tied a career high with three assists.
•    Brady Skeens' 30 blocked shots this season is ranked 12th on the single season chart and his 2.1 blocks per game ranks first on the single season chart ahead of Dan Buie's 1.7 blocks per game (27 games) in 1995-96 … his 42 career blocked shots is 15th on the career chart and his 1.6 career blocks per game average is second.

 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 782-335 overall.
•     has 540 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 540.
•     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 459-86 going 408-75 in Lee Arena.
•     is third in all-time coaching victories in active NCAA Division II coaches.
•     his 782 coaching wins is 15th 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.

Missouri Western head coach Brett Weiberg . . .
•    is in his second season at Missouri Western and his ninth season overall.
•    owns a 27-43 record at Missouri Western in his third year and has a career record of 166-148 in his ninth overall season. 
•    brings 16 years of collegiate coaching experience to Missouri Western and has experience in coaching at a multitude of levels. He began his coaching career in 1998 as an assistant at Blinn Junior College in Brenham, Texas. Following stints at NAIA Wayland Baptist University and Division I Texas-San Antonio, he found a home at Northern Oklahoma College where he spent five years as an assistant before becoming the head coach in 2006.

  Last Time Out For The Ichabods
Central Oklahoma 98, Washburn 92 (OT) -- Jan. 9, 2016
EDMOND, Okla.-- The Washburn Ichabod lost a heartbreaker in overtime at Central Oklahoma after battling back from a 14-point deficit to force overtime falling 98-92.
Washburn (9-5, 5-4 MIAA) led by four with 41 seconds to play after a 3-pointer by Javion Blake. UCO (7-8, 3-6 MIAA) came back with a lay up cutting the lead to 79-77 with 27 seconds left. After a pair of free throws by Randall Smith with 20 seconds left, UCO came back with another pair of free throws with 14 seconds left. 
Washburn was then fouled and missed the front end of a 1 and 1 and UCO's Cornell Neal tied the game with eight seconds to play with a layup and the Ichabods' 3-point attempt at the buzzer missed sending the game to overtime. 
In the Ichabods' third overtime game in the last four contests, UCO scored the first five points and Washburn twice got within two but would get no closer as the Bronchos held on for the win.
Washburn was 1 of 8 from the field in overtime on a 3-pointer by Andy Wilson and the Bronchos were 3 of 7 with all three field goals coming from 3-point range.
Washburn trailed 48-40 at the half after shooting 14 of 30 shots but only 3 of 11 from 3-point range while the Bronchos hit 7 of 14 shots from deep and 45 percent in the half.
Washburn had five players in double figures paced by Blake's career-high 23 points on 8 of 13 shooting hitting 5 of 9 3-point attempts. Randall Smith finished with 22 points hitting 10 of 13 free throws before fouling out. Tyas Martin scored 12 off the bench followed by Andy Wilson's 11 points on 4 of 5 shooting (3 of 4 from 3-point range) and Robert Christopher's 10 points. Brady Skeens led the Ichabods with nine rebounds.
Cornell Neal and Kendahl Amerson each had 22 to lead UCO.
UCO outrebounded the Ichabods 48 to 36 while Washburn had 26 second chance points compared to 15 by UCO.  
 
 About Missouri Western
•     Missouri Western is 5-10 overall this season and 3-6 in MIAA play.
•    The Griffons are 0-5 in road contests this year and 0-4 in MIAA road games.
•    Missouri Western has its two-game winning streak snapped at home against Northwest Missouri 66-60 last time out after beating both Northeastern State (84-69) and Central Oklahoma (77-60).
•    Trey Sampson leads the team with 12.1 ppg and Aaron Emmanuel is averaging 11.2 ppg.
•    Overall the Griffons are averaging 72.3 ppg while allowing 74.7 ppg.

 Series History with Missouri Western
•    Wednesday's meeting will be the 86th meeting between the two schools with Washburn leading the series 50-35. 
•  The Ichabods are 26-20 against MWSU in MIAA games and 21-10 in Lee Arena and 29-12 in games played in Topeka overall.
•    The Ichabods have won the last three games played in St. Joseph and they are 20-22 in games played in St. Joseph against the Griffons.
•    In the MIAA Tournament the Ichabods are 3-4 against the Griffons. Since joining the MIAA, the Ichabods are 9-17 in MIAA games played in St. Joseph.
•    The Ichabods lead 5-4 in overtime games including the 56-52 win two years ago in St. Joseph.     

 Last meeting with Missouri Western
(Jan. 3, 2015) TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Washburn Ichabods men's basketball led from start to finish picking up an 85-60 win over Missouri Western Saturday night on Schendel Court at Lee Arena. 
The Ichabods jumped out to leads of 7-0, 10-2, 20-5 and 24-8 in the first 13 minutes of the ball game as Washburn shot 54 percent from the field in the first half hitting 14 of 26 shots overall while holding the Griffons to a 7 of 28 shooting mark in the opening stanza. Washburn led 40-18 at the break behind 11 first-half points from Kyle Wiggins, who lifted his career total to 994 career points after scoring 17 in the game.
In the second half, Washburn (8-8, 3-2 MIAA) outscored the Griffons (5-6, 1-3 MIAA) 45 to 42 as both teams shot above 50 percent in the frame. The Ichabods were 13 of 24 and 6 of 11 from 3-point range while the Griffons were 12 of 23 going 7 of 14 from 3-point range. Washburn led by as many as 32 in the game at 63-31 before Missouri Western used a 14-3 run over the next 2:39 to cut the lead to 66-45 with 10:12 to play after hitting four-straight 3-pointers. From that point on Washburn outscored the Griffons 19-15 to take the 25-point win.
Alex North led the Ichabods with 21 points on 7 of 10 shooting hitting 4 of 7 3-pointers. He also had four steals. Kyle Wiggins scored 17 points and tied a career-high with three blocks adding six assists. Kevin House scored a career-high nine points adding four assists and four steals. David Salach had a team-high five rebounds.
Cole Clearman led the Griffons with 19 points.
Washburn outrebounded the Griffons 32 to 28 and forced 14 turnovers leading to 21 Ichabod points in the game.   

 Last time out for Missouri Western
(Jan. 9, 2016) ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western Men's Basketball team came up short of upsetting Northwest, ultimately falling 66-60 on Saturday in front of 2,205 fans.
 The Griffons trailed by two at halftime but opened the second half by scoring the first four points to take a 30-28 lead. Missouri Western regained the lead with 6:05 remaining on free throws from Trey Sampson. Missouri Western scored 22 of its 34 second half points at the line, shooting 78.6 percent in the half and 81.6 percent for the game. It was field goals that the Griffons struggled with, shooting 32.6 percent and just seven percent from behind the arc (1-14).
 Sampson led Missouri Western with 14 points. Currie Byrd added 12 points and seven rebounds and Miles Wentzien added 10.
The loss dropped Missouri Western to 5-10 overall and 3-6 in the MIAA. The team hits the road next week with games at Washburn and Emporia State. 
 
 Ichabod basketball history
•     The Ichabods are 1,514-1,041-2 (.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 540-254 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 408-75 (.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 action on Saturday when they will host Northwest Missouri on Jan. 16 and after a week off of play, Emporia State on Jan. 23 in Lee Arena as well.