Opening Tip
• The Washburn Ichabods will play one more non-conference game before opening MIAA play next week as they play host to Manhattan Christian College on Thursday night in Lee Arena at 7 p.m.
• The Ichabods are 4-3 coming off an 84-58 win over Newman last time out on Tuesday in Wichita.
• The Thunder are 2-4 this season with wins over McPherson and Union.
• The Thunder lost an exhibition game on Tuesday night to Oklahoma Christian 118-79.
• Javion Blake leads the Ichabods in scoring at 15.0 ppg hitting a team-high 19 3-pointers on 36 attempts.
• Brady Skeens leads the team on the glass with 10.4 rebounds a game and is averaging a double double this season with 12.1 points per game shooting 71 percent from the field hitting 34 of 48 attempts with 2.1 blocks per game.
• Washburn is second in the MIAA in blocks at 3.6 per game and second in assists averaging 15.0 per contest.
• Brady Skeens leads the MIAA in rebounds at 10.4 per game and leads the MIAA in blocks with 2.1 per game and fifth in steals per game with 1.8.
• The Washburn bench has outscored its opponents bench 142 to 108 in the last four games.
• Javion Blake made his 65 consecutive start against Newman starting every game of his Washburn career.
• Javion Blake also went over the 100 career 3-point field goals made chart and now has 104 in his junior season which is 14th on the all-time made chart.
• Ichabod opponent have attempted 56 more free throws than Washburn has this season (188 to 132) and has made 47 more hitting 134 compared to 87 for Washburn.
• Cameron Wiggins needs four 3-pointers to move into eighth all-time on the Ichabod career 3-point chart entering the Newman game.
• Brady Skeens moved into fifth on the Ichabod all-time rebound chart with his 715th against Ottawa passing Alex North (2010-2015) … Skeens needs 16 more to pass Ryan Murphy who had 738 from 1999 to 2003.
• Randall Smith needs four assists to reach 250 for his career and nine more to move into the top eight all-time at Washburn …he has 246 which is tied for 15th on the Ichabod charts.
• David Salach moved into the top 10 sitting in a tie for ninth on the all-time blocks chart and now has 62.
 
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.

Coaches
Washburn Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard …
• is 4-3 in his first season as the Ichabods' head coach and 37-33 overall in his third year as a head coach.
• was named the Washburn Ichabod men's basketball head coach on April 6, 2016 after spending the 2014-15 to 2016-17 seasons as an assistant coach with the Wake Forest basketball program after working under head coach Danny Manning 2014-17 seasons and at the University of Tulsa during the 2012-14 seasons.
• he helped Wake Forest to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2009-10 season following the 2016-17 season. 
• while at Tulsa, the Golden Hurricane played in the postseason both years, including earning a No. 13 seed in the 2014 NCAA Tournament. Tulsa also participated in the 2013 CBI, finishing that season with a winning record of 17-16 overall.
• before joining Manning at Tulsa, Ballard spent two seasons as the head basketball coach at Baker University going 33-30 overall, including a 21-12 mark in his final season at the helm in 2011-12. 
• prior to taking over the head coaching position at Baker, Ballard spent seven years on Bill Self's staff at Kansas, his alma mater. 
• he played two years for the Jayhawks under head coach Roy Williams from 2000-02 after transferring from Hutchinson Community College in his hometown of Hutchinson, Kan. In his two seasons as a Jayhawk, the team reached the 2001 NCAA Sweet Sixteen and appeared in the 2002 NCAA Final Four in Atlanta.
• he earned his bachelor's degree in secondary education from Kansas in 2003 earning an Academic All-Big 12 selection as a senior for his efforts in the classroom.
• has never faced Manhattan Christian.
 
Manhattan Christian head coach Shawn Condra…
• has been the Athletic Director and Men's Basketball Coach at Manhattan Christian College since 1994.
• is beginning his 24th season as head coach and he has compiled an overall record of 477-285.
• in 1996 MCC captured the NCCAA IIA National Championship and he was named the NCCAA IIA Coach of the Year.
• he has also been named the NCCAA Central Region Coach of the Year seven times (2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008 & 2009, 2015)..
• is 0-1 against the Ichabods.
 
Last Time Out For the Ichabods
Washburn 84, Newman 58 -- Nov. 28, 2017
WICHITA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods used a stifling defense in the first half holding the Newman Jets to 19 points and six field goals cruising to an 82-58 win.  
Washburn jumped out to an 18 point first half lead ripping off a 12-0 run building a 24-6 lead with 7:52 to play in the half. Washburn would go on to lead 44-19 at the break after holding the Jets to 6 of 32 shooting from the field while the Ichabods were 16 of 28 and 10 of 13 from the free throw line as all nine different Ichabods who played in the first half scored.
With the Ichabods holding a 27-point lead at 56-31 with 14:06 to play, the Jets used an 11-2 run to trim the lead back to 18 with 11:36 to play. Newman cut the lead to 15, but back to back 3-pointers by Tyas Martin and Randall Smith pushed the margin back to 21.
Brady Skeens led the Ichabods with 18 on 8 of 10 shooting adding eight rebounds with two blocks and two steals. Martin scored 15 on 6 of 8 shooting with Javion Blake scoring 13 dishing out five assists hitting three 3-pointers. Smith scored 11 adding three assists. Will McKee added a career-high seven rebounds.
Washburn (4-3) held the Jets (2-5) without a field goal for the final 5:16 of the game limiting the Jets to 18 of 63 shooting from the field for a 29 percent average. Washburn finished 54 percent hitting 31 of 57 in the game after hitting 16 of 28 in the first half. The Ichabods were also 16 of 21 from the free throw line and held a 46 to 32 advantage on the glass.
The Ichabods forced 18 Jet turnovers leading to 18 points for the Ichabods while Washburn coughed the ball up 22 times adding 15 assists leading from start to finish in the game.
 
About The Opponents
• The Thunder are 2-4 this season with wins over McPherson and Union.
• The Thunder lost an exhibition game on Tuesday night to Oklahoma Christian 118-79.
• Sheldon Williams leads the team scoring 19.8 ppg and Sterling Turner has hit 15 of 39 3-pointers this season adding a team-high 20 steals.
• The game will count as an exhibition game for the Thunder.
• The Thunder lost to Newman 80-61 in an exhibition game on Nov. 15.
 
Series History with Manhattan Christian
• Thursday's meeting with the Thunder will be the second all-time.
• Washburn won the only meeting last season in Topeka 112-53.
• The 59-point win was the fourth-largest margin of victory in school history.
 
Last Meeting with Manhattan Christian
(Dec. 1, 2016) TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Washburn men's basketball team added to the Ichabod record book with 112-53 win over Manhattan Christian on Thursday night at Schendel Court in Lee Arena. The win lifted the Ichabods to 7-0 this season and was head coach Bob Chipman's 795th win over his career on the Washburn sidelines. 
The Ichabods fell behind the Thunder 14-8 after jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the first minute of the game, but MCC (2-5) led until a 14-0 run put the Ichabods in front for good stretching out to a 22-14 lead. The Washburn scoring rush ignited a 41-8 run over the final 14:18 of the half as the Ichabods led by 27 at the break at 49-22.
In the second half, Washburn doubled up the Thunder outscoring Manhattan Christian 63 to 31 shooting a blistering 62 percent from the field hitting 24 of 39 shots going 5 of 13 from deep as the Thunder would get no closer than 25 in the second stanza.
Isaac Clark led the Ichabods off the bench with 18 points going 7 of 9 from the field and 2 of 3 from 3-point range en route to a career-high night. He paced four total Ichabods in double figures as Cameron Wiggins scored 17 points in 17 minutes and Brady Skeens had his third double double of the season and his 13th of his career with 16 points, 10 rebounds adding five blocks. Brandon Fagins scored 10 points hitting five of six shots from the field adding two blocks. David Salach had six points and eight rebounds and matched Skeens with five blocks. As a team, the Ichabods swatted a school and MIAA record 15 shots breaking the previous MIAA mark of 14 by Southwest Baptist in two games with the last coming on Jan. 12, 2008 against Fort Hays State.
Washburn finished 44 of 75 from the field for a 59 percent shooting clip and outrebounded the Thunder 52 to 36. The Ichabods also had a 31 to 10 advantage in points off turnovers and a 61 to 11 advantage in bench points.
 
Last time out for Manhattan Christian
(Nov. 28, 2017) -- OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- Manhattan Christian fell 118-79 to Oklahoma Christian in an exhibition game on Tuesday night.
Sheldon Williams scored 25 to lead the Thunder adding three steals. Three other MCC players reached double figures with Trey Young scoring 15, Antonio Anderson with 13 and Isaiah Dobbins with 12.
The Thunder shot 36 percent in the game and hit 19 of 26 free throws.
 
Washburn Ichabod Basketball HIstory
•    The Ichabods are 1,544-1,062-2 (.592) all-time in the 114th 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 570-268 since joining the conference and the NCAA.
•    The Ichabods have recorded 26 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 424-85 (.848) all-time in Lee Arena.
•    The 2017-18 season marks the 33rd 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 open MIAA play against Fort Hays State in Lee Arena on Dec. 6 and then host Nebraska-Kearney on Dec. 9.