Opening Tip
• The Washburn Ichabods will wrap up the 2017 calendar year looking for their eighth-straight win playing host to Avila University on Dec. 30 in Lee Arena with a 2 p.m. tip.
• The Ichabods are 9-3 and 4-0 in the MIAA coming back from 12 down to beat Lincoln 77-63 last time out on Dec. 18 in Jefferson City.
• The Eagles are 6-5 overall and 0-3 in the Heart of America Conference. The Eagles have had three straight exhibition games falling to William Jewell on Dec. 16 98-74. They also lost to Rockhurst 95-72 on Dec. 18 and dropped a 89-58 exhibition game at Missouri-Kansas City as the Kangaroos in a game played on Dec. 28.
• Saturday's meeting will be the first between Washburn and Avila since Jan. 10, 1984 when the Ichabods won 61-59 in Kansas City. 
• Overall the ichabods lead the all-time series 7-0 going 5-0 in games played in Topeka.
• Javion Blake leads the Ichabods in scoring at 16.5 ppg hitting a team-high 29 3-pointers on 61 attempts coming off back to back 20-point games at Lindenwood and Lincoln.
• Brady Skeens leads the team on the glass with 10.0  rebounds a game adding 13.0 points per game shooting 74 percent from the field hitting 64 of 86 attempts with 2.0 blocks per game coming off a season-high 23 points against Lincoln last time out.
• Washburn is second the MIAA in blocks at 4.1 per game and is second in assists averaging 16.3 per contest.
• The Ichabods are ranked second in field goal defense holding opponents to 39 percent shooting and ranked second in field goal percentage at 51 percent.
• Brady Skeens is second in the MIAA in rebounds at 10.0 per game and leads the MIAA in blocks with 2.0 per game and ninth in steals per game with 1.5 … he is also first in field goal percentage (.744) … his field goal percentage is also third in the nation and his 24 total blocks is 17th while his total rebounds is 14th in the national rankings.
• Javion Blake made his 70th consecutive start against Lincoln starting every game of his Washburn career.
• Javion Blake also went over the 100 career 3-point field goals made chart and now has 114 in his junior season which is 12th on the all-time made chart.
• Ichabod opponents have attempted 45 more free throws than Washburn has this season (293 to 248) and has made 42 more hitting 211 compared to 169 for Washburn.
• Cameron Wiggins moved into eighth on the Ichabod all-time 3-point chart sitting at 151.
• Brady Skeens moved into fourth on the all-time Ichabod rebounding chart passing Ryan Murphy who had 738 from 1999 to 2003 …Skeens now has 770 at Washburn … in third place on the career chart is Ewan Auguste who had 888 from 1997 to 2001.
• Brady Skeens also needs 68 rebounds to pass the rebound total of his mother and former Lady Blue basketball player Joy (Benton) Skeens who had 806 from 1981-85 finishing her career as the all-time leading rebouner in school history.
• Skeens also needs only six blocks to reach 200 for his career.
• Randall Smith has 259 career assists which is  eighth on the Ichabod career charts.
• David Salach moved into the top 10 sitting seventh on the all-time blocks chart and now has 68.
 
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 9-3 in his first season as the Ichabods' head coach and 42-33 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.
• is 2-2 against Avila.
 
Avila head coach Bill Sloan …
• is 11-30 in his second season as the Eagles' head coach.
• is 0-0 against Washburn.
 
Last Time Out For the Ichabods
Washburn 77, Lincoln 63 -- Dec. 18, 2017
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Washburn Ichabods overcame a 12-point first half deficit as they defeated the Lincoln Blue Tigers for the 28th consecutive game in a 77-63 win on Monday night to enter the Holiday Break on a seven-game winning streak moving to 4-0 in MIAA play.
Washburn (9-3, 4-0 MIAA) trailed 35-32 at the half to the Blue Tigers (5-7, 0-4 MIAA) after falling behind Lincoln by as many as 12 points with 8:28 to play in the opening frame. The Ichabods rallied to cut the lead to three at the break outscoring the Blue Tigers 20-11 to final 8:21 of the half.
After a pair of free throws to start the second half by Javion Blake trimmed the lead back to one, the Blue Tigers scored the next four points to go up five building a 39-34 lead, but the Ichabods came back with a 17-0 run over a 5:35 stretch going 7 of 8 from the field hitting all three 3-point attempts holding Lincoln to 0 of 7 shooting and 0 of 5 from deep to go up 51-39 with 12:06 to play.
Lincoln responded with four straight to cut the Ichabod lead back to eight, but a layup by Brady Skeens and one by David Salach pushed the lead back to 12 with 8:49 to go. Lincoln came back with five straight points cutting the lead to seven, but a 3-pointer by Blake pushed the lead back to double digits and the Blue Tigers would not get closer than eight the rest of the way at 71-63 with 1:36 to play before the Ichabods hit all six free throws the rest of the way to preserve the 14-point win.
Skeens led the Ichabods with a game-high 23 points on 9 of 11 shooting from the field and Blake finished with 21 going over 20 for the second-straight game. Coming off the bench Isaac Clark scored 13 and Drew Pyle chipped in nine hitting three 3-pointers.
Terrance Smith led the Blue Tigers with 19 points and Maurice Mason had 10.
Washburn finished 26 of 53 from the field shooting 55 percent in the second half hitting 16 of 29 scoring 45 points in the second half while holding the Blue Tigers to 7 of 26 shooting from the field in the second half for a 27 percent average en route to 19 of 49 shooting in the game overall.
After being down eight in the rebounding category at the break, Washburn outrebounded Lincoln in the second half by eight as both teams finished with 30 overall. 
 
About The Avila Eagles
• The Eagles are 6-5 overall and 0-3 in the Heart of America Conference. The Eagles have had three straight exhibition games falling to William Jewell on Dec. 16 98-74. They also lost to Rockhurst 95-72 on Dec. 18 and dropped a 89-58 exhibition game at Missouri-Kansas City as the Kangaroos in a game played on Dec. 28.
• Dominique Washington leads the team in points at 15.1 ppg and in rebounds at 7.8 per game.
• Tajh Downs is 10th in NAIA Division I with 1.9 blocks per game.
 
Series History with Avila
• The Dec. 30 meeting will be the eighth all-time between the two schools and the first since a 61-59 win by the Ichabods in Kansas City on Jan. 10, 1984.
• Washburn has won all seven previous meetings.
 
Last time out for Avila
(Dec. 28, 2017) -- KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Avila feel 89-58 to Missouri-Kansas City on Thursday night in an exhibition game against the Kangaroos. 
The Eagles trailed 46-29 at the half and was held to 38 percent shooting in the game by the 'Roos who finished the game at 50 percent from the field hitting 13 3-pointers in the win. Avila was 3 of 18 from deep and 13 of 19 from the free throw line and was outrebounded 39 to 33.
Byron Cooke scored 13 with six assists to lead the Eagles with Josh Benford scoring 12 and Shandon Boon adding 10.
 
Washburn Ichabod Basketball HIstory
•    The Ichabods are 1,549-1,062-2 (.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 574-268 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 427-85 (.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
•    The Ichabods will return to conference play on Jan. 6 opening a three-game home stand with Emporia State followed by games with Northeastern State on Jan. 11 and Central Oklahoma on Jan. 13.