Opening Tip
•     The Washburn Ichabod basketball team continues its three-game road trip on Thursday traveling to Tahlequah, Okla., to take on Northeastern State at the NSU Event Center. The Ichabods will wrap up the trip on Saturday at Central Oklahoma.
•     Washburn is 10-4 and 2-3 in the MIAA after dropping a heartbreaker in a 77-76 loss at Emporia State as the Hornets hit a buzzer-beater from beyond half court negating a 21-point comeback by the Ichabods.
•     Northeastern State is 3-11 this season and 2-4 in the MIAA after falling at Lincoln 81-65 last time out on Jan. 7.
•     The RiverHawks snapped a six-game losing streak at Lindenwood on Jan. 5 in a 58-53 win over the Lions.
•     The RiverHawks are 2-4 in home games this season and their two MIAA wins were 55-41 over Missouri Western and the win over the Lions.
•     The Ichabods as a team lead the nation in blocks at 6.2 per game and total blocks at 87 and Brady Skeens is third in the nation with 3.5 blocks per game.
•     This season will be Bob Chipman's last season on the bench at Washburn … Chipman announced prior to the start of the season this year would be his last … Chipman has recorded a career-record of 798-347 at Washburn needing only two wins to reach 800 for his career becoming only the 16th coach to reach that milestone.
•     The Ichabods trail the all-time series with Northeastern State 7-2 and have gone 0-4 in games played in Tahlequah.
•     Cameron Wiggins is ranked 14th in the MIAA in scoring at 14.2 ppg, Brady Skeens is 15th at 13.9 ppg and Javion Blake is 27th at 11.4 ppg while David Salach is ranked 35th at 10.2 ppg.
•     Wiggins' 3-point field goal percentage of 47 percent (40 of 86) is fifth in the MIAA and his 2.9 made 3-pointers per game is second in the MIAA.
•     Brady Skeens leads the league in rebounding at 10.6 rpg, field goal percentage at 68.6 percent (83 of 121) and blocks at 3.5 per game … he is also ranked seventh in assists with 3.6 per game and 13th in minutes at 31.5 per game … Skeens is ranked second in the nation in field goal percentage at 68.6.
•     Randall Smith's 3.5 assists per game is eighth in the MIAA tied with Javion Blake.
•     Brady Skeens' 122 career blocks are the most in school after passing Ewan Auguste (100) on the all-time chart against Newman … he had a school-record 61 last season in 28 games … this season he has 48 in 13 games.
 
  Ichabods on Radio
Washburn games will be broadcast on KTPK 106.9 FM radio with Jake Lebahn and Dan Lucero 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 38th and final season at the helm of the Ichabods.
•     a 1973 graduate of Kansas State earning both his undergraduate and master's degree in Manhattan.
•     is 798-347 overall.
•     has 559 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 559.
•     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 467-93 going 416-82 in Lee Arena.
•     is third in all-time coaching victories in active NCAA Division II coaches.
•     his 798 coaching wins is 17th 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.
 
Northeastern State head coach Jason Tinsley
•     is 18-49 in his second year at Northeastern State and 173-182 in his 14th as a four year men's coach.
•     is 3-1 against Washburn.
•     was the head women's basketball coach from 2010-14 at NCAA Division III Louisiana College in Pineville, La., where he led the program to an 89-25 record and three berths in the NCAA Division III Championship tournament.
 
Last Time Out For The Ichabods
Emporia State 77, Washburn 76 -- Jan. 7, 2017
EMPORIA, Kan. -- After hitting nine 3-pointers in the first half and only one the first 19:59 of the second half, ESU's Brandon Hall hit one just over the halfcourt line for the game winner in a 76-75 victory spoiling a 21-point comeback by the Ichabods after trailing by 19 at the half.
Randall Smith hit a lay up with 3.7 seconds to play putting Washburn up 75-73, but a quick inbounds by the Hornets and a launch by Hall gave ESU the win handing the Ichabods their second-straight loss snapping a three-game winning streak over ESU.
Washburn (10-4, 2-3 MIAA) used a 28-8 run over the first 9:25 of the second half taking a 54-53 lead on a 3-pointer by Drew Pyle who finished with a career-high 17 points off the bench.
In the first half, the Ichabods led 11-7 with 16:02 to play after a bucket by David Salach, but ESU would then go on a 22-2 run pushing as the Hornets hit 6 of 7 attempts from 3-point range during the run over a 6:37 stretch. The run would increase to a 28-4 run as ESU continued to hit from deep going 8 of 10 during the run going out to a 35-15 lead.
The Ichabods rallied with a 9-0 run of their own capped by a 3-pointer by Drew Pyle from the corner bringing Washburn within 11 at 35-24 with 4:29 to play in the opening half.
Washburn trailed by 19 at the break as Emporia State shot 50 percent from the field with 9 of its 13 field goals coming from 3-point range. ESU was also 10 of 10 from the free throw line outrebounding Washburn 20 to 8 in the frame.
Following Pyle's 17 points, Smith finished with 13 and Javion Blake scored 13 as well and David Salach finished with 10.
Washburn was 26 of 54 from the field overall after shooting 65 percent from the field in the second half hitting 17 of 26 shots. Washburn was 16 of 23 from the free throw line and hit 5 of 11 from 3-point range in the second half.

About Northeastern State
•     The RiverHawks are 3-11 this season and 2-4 in the MIAA.
•     Montre' Williams leads the team with a 14.7 ppg averaging scoring 14.5 ppg in MIAA play …he is shooting 47 percent from 3-point range hitting 34 of 73 attempts.
•     Cameron Martin is scoring 9.4 ppg and Braxton Williams leads the team with 5.2 rebounds per game scoring 5.8 ppg.
•     The RiverHawks are shooting 40 percent from the field and 34 percent from 3-point range.
•     NSU is 13th in the MIAA in scoring offense averaging 63.2 ppg and 12th in scoring defense allowing 74.6 ppg.
•     NSU is last in the league in field goal percentage (.404) and field goal percentage defense (.482).
 
Series History with Northeastern State
•     Thursday's meeting will be the 10th all-time between the two schools and the RiverHawks lead the all-time series 7-2.
•     The RiverHawks won the first meeting on Jan. 24 in Tahlequah 80-73.
•     The teams split the regular season games in 2013-14 and the RiverHawks won 79-75 in a first round MIAA Tournament game in Topeka on March 4, 2014.
•     The Ichabods and RiverHawks played in the second round of the NCAA Tournament with Washburn falling 64-59 on March 15, 2003 in Stephenville, Texas.
•     The RiverHawks went on to win the NCAA National Championship in 2003.
•     Washburn is 0-3 in games played in Tahlequah falling 85-78 on Jan. 19, 2013 and 69-58 on Feb. 15, 2014 and 75-65 on Jan. 7, 2016. 
 
Last Meeting with Northeastern State
(Feb. 17, 2016) TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods lost a 70-67 battle on Wednesday night on Schendel Court at Lee Arena as they had their two-game winning streak snapped by Northeastern State. 
In a game which saw 15 lead changes, the RiverHawks took the lead for good after six straight trips to the free throw line in a 14 second span as a one-point Ichabod lead flipped to a five-point RiverHawk lead at 51-46.
Northeastern State (8-15, 7-12 MIAA) would go up by six with 4:52 to play in the game before a 3-pointer by Andy Wilson cut the lead in half at 59-56 with 4:30 to play.
After a pair of free throws by Ulsaker cut the RiverHawk lead to one at 59-58 with 3:43 to go, NSU scored the next five points to go up 63-58 with 2:07 to play, however a 3-pointer by Javion Blake trimmed the lead back to two with 1:52 to go.
NSU pushed the lead back to five with 17 seconds to play at 66-61, but a dunk on a 3-point play by Brady Skeens cut it back to two. NSU went to the line and hit both free throws going up 68-64 with nine seconds to play.
Cameron Wiggins hit a 3-pointer with five seconds to play cutting the back to one at 68-67 before NSU hit both free throws with two seconds remaining to pick up the 70-67 win.
The Ichabods  (14-10, 10-9 MIAA) were led by Skeens who recorded his ninth double double of the season with 13 points and 18 rebounds leading a total of four Ichabods in double figures. Randall Smith and Wiggins each had 12 points and Blake finished with 10.
Killven Samuel led all scorers with 19 points.
The RiverHawks finished the game 29 of 40 from the free throw line going 21 of 30 in the second half and 7 of 8 in the final five minutes. Washburn finished 8 of 15 from the charity stripe.
Washburn turned the ball over 16 times leading to 21 points for the RiverHawks in the game. Each team finished with 40 rebounds.
Washburn finished the game 25 of 58 from the field (43 percent) while the RiverHawks were 19 of 56 overall (34 percent).
 
Last Time Out For The RiverHawks
Lincoln 81, Northeastern State 65 -- Jan. 7, 2017
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Fouls and free-throws came out to be the headline from Northeastern State's Saturday night 81-65 road loss at Lincoln.   A total of 21 fouls were called against NSU with the Blue Tigers being sent to the line 34 times.
Lincoln was called for a season low ten fouls and put Northeastern State at the line only seven times, their lowest since Nov. 18, 2014 at Harding.
Tanner Mouse paced the RiverHawks on the road with a career high 18 points, the NSU sophomore had four treys, four assists, and four rebounds.  Braxton Williams added 14 and had six boards, Montre' Williams scored 11 with three treys that all came consecutively in the first half, he also had a career mark for assists with nine.   Erick Broadnax smashed down four blocks for a career mark to best his prior total by one.
Northeastern State led as many and ten points in the first half off of 51.7-percent shooting and contest didn't get away from NSU until the teams came back from the intermission.  Neither NSU or Lincoln shot the ball well in the second half with the RiverHawks going 8-of-31 and the Blue Tigers making 10-of-27.  A difference marker to split the contest was 21 free-throw opportunities where Lincoln scored 17 of their 41 second half points off of; the RiverHawks were 4-of-4 from the free-throw line in final 20 minutes.
At the end of the night, NSU shot 38.3-percent (23-60) from the field and they made 12 three-pointers.  Lincoln was 42.6-percent (23-54) from their side of the floor while going 28-for-34 from the free-throw line; the Blue Tigers were led by Anthony Virdure who had 32 points.
Northeastern State led for 19:12 with the contest tied three times, and lead swapped six times.
Saturday's loss will send the RiverHawks to 3-11 overall, and they are 2-4 in the MIAA; Lincoln will go to 10-5 and 3-3 in league play.
 
 Ichabod basketball history
•     The Ichabods are 1,530-1,053-2 (.592) all-time in the 112th year in the program's history.
•     Washburn is the fifth-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 558-264 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 416-82 (.848) all-time in Lee Arena.
•     The 2016-17 season marks the 32nd 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
•     Washburn will wrap up its three-game road trip at Central Oklahoma on Jan. 14. before returning to Lee Arena when they will play host to Missouri Southern on Jan. 19 and Pittsburg State on Jan. 21.