Opening Tip
• The Washburn Ichabods will wrap up a three-game homestand playing host to Nebraska-Kearney on Saturday night in Lee Arena with tip scheduled for 7 p.m.
• The Ichabods will be in search of their fifth-straight win.
• Nebraska-Kearney is 5-6 and 2-1 in the MIAA coming off a 76-69 loss at Emporia State on Thursday.
• The Ichabods will be looking to snap an eight-game losing streak to the Lopers.
• Washburn's last win came on Feb. 21, 2013 in Topeka in the last of a seven-game winning streak for the Ichabods.
• Javion Blake leads the Ichabods in scoring at 16.0 ppg hitting a team-high 26 3-pointers on 48 attempts.
• Brady Skeens leads the team on the glass with 9.9 rebounds a game adding 12.8 points per game shooting 73 percent from the field hitting 48 of 66 attempts with 2.3 blocks per game.
• Washburn leads the MIAA in blocks at 4.4 per game and assists averaging 17.2 per contest.
• The Ichabods are ranked first 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 9.9 per game and leads the MIAA in blocks with 2.3 per game and sixth in steals per game with 1.9 … he is also first in field goal percentage (.727).
• The Washburn bench has outscored its opponents bench 238 to 152 in the last six games.
• Javion Blake made his 67 consecutive start against Fort Hays State starting every game of his Washburn career.
• Javion Blake also went over the 100 career 3-point field goals made chart and now has 111 in his junior season which is 13th on the all-time made chart.
• Ichabod opponents have attempted 46 more free throws than Washburn has this season (221 to 175) and has made 40 more hitting 155 compared to 115 for Washburn.
• Cameron Wiggins needs two 3-pointers to move into eighth all-time on the Ichabod career 3-point chart entering the Lopers game with 147.
• 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 739 at Washburn …in third place on the career chart is Ewan Auguste who had 888 from 1997 to 2001.
• Skeens also needs only nine blocks to reach 200 for his career.
• Randall Smith has 254 career assists which is tied for ninth on the Ichabod career charts.
• David Salach moved into the top 10 sitting  in ninth on the all-time blocks chart and now has 64.
 
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 6-3 in his first season as the Ichabods' head coach and 39-33 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 Nebraska-Kearney.
 
Nebraska-Kearney head coach Kevin Lofton …
• is in his 13th year as head coach at Nebraska-Kearney after being promoted from co-head coach two seasons ago.
• in his third season as the lone head coach on the squad, he has gone 46-28 in his third season.
• has recorded a 202-153 (.555) mark at UNK.
• is 8-2 against Washburn.
 
Last Time Out For the Ichabods
Washburn 69, Fort Hays State 58 -- Dec. 6, 2017
TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Washburn Ichabods opened MIAA season with a 69-58 win over Fort Hays State on Wednesday in Lee Arena winning their fourth game in a row improving to 6-3 and 1-0 in the MIAA. 
The Tigers (6-3, 2-1 MIAA) had their largest lead of the game at 11-6 after an 8-0 run with 12:52 to play in the first half, but the Ichabods came back with a 14-4 run of their own taking a five-point lead at 20-15 with 4:56 to play in the frame going on to lead 32-24 at the break. Washburn was 11 of 21 from the field in the first half going 11 of 21 from the field holding the Tigers to 9 of 30 shooting.
Both teams opened the second half cold as neither team scored until the 16:51 mark of the second half on a 3-pointer by Cameron Wiggins putting Washburn the Ichabods up 35-24.
The Tigers cut the lead to five at 35-40 with 12:11 to play in the game, but seven straight points pushed the Ichabod lead back to 12.
Washburn had its lead cut back to seven twice with 6:11 to play in the game, but again the Ichabods scored five straight to go back up by 12 and the Tigers would get no closer than eight as the Ichabods went on to win by 11.
Brady Skeens led the Ichabods with 16 points adding seven rebounds and three blocks. Javion Blake scored 15 with six boards and Isaac Clark and Tyas Martin each scored 11 off the bench.
Hadley Gillum scored 11 points to pace the Tigers before fouling out with 5:50 left in the game.
Washburn held the Tigers to 31 percent from the field in the game hitting 19 of 62 shots from the field in the game.
Washburn finished 55 percent from the field overall going 24 of 44 in the game.
The Tigers held a 37 to 32 advantage on the glass holding the Ichabods to two offensive rebounds. Washburn outscored the Tigers 36 to 16 and 15 to 0 in fastbreak points.
 
About The Nebraska-Kearney Lopers
• The Lopers are 5-6, 2-1 in the MIAA. 
• They are averaging 78.9 points per game on the year while giving up 80.1 points per game. 
• Trey Lansman leads four Lopers in double figures at 21.0 points per game adding 9.4 rebounds per game.
 
Series History with Nebraska-Kearney
• Saturday's meeting will be the 41st in the series and the Lopers lead 23-17 and have won the last eight games in the series after the Ichabods had won seven straight prior to the Lopers' current winning streak.
• All-time in games in Kearney, the Ichabods are 5-16.
• Washburn has lost the last four meetings in Kearney.
• Washburn's last win in Kearney came on Jan. 12, 2013 in a 72-56 victory.
• Washburn leads 11-6 in games played in Topeka, but the Lopers have won the last three meetings.
• The two teams have only played once in the MIAA Tournament and it came last season in Bob Chipman's final game on the Ichabod bench as Washburn fell 75-69 in Kansas City.
 
Last Meeting with Nebraska-Kearney
(March 2, 2017) KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Washburn Ichabod basketball team came to an end as did the coach of Washburn Hall of Fame head coach Bob Chipman in a 75-69 loss to Nebraska-Kearney in the MIAA Tournament Quarterfinals. Washburn finishes the season 20-10.
Washburn and Nebraska-Kearney traded leads early as Washburn would go on to build a lead of 10 at 27-20 with 7:24 to play in the first half. However the Lopers used a 14-4 run over the next three minutes to take a 32-31 lead. After a 3-pointer by Isaac Clark put the Ichabods back in from at 34-32 with 2:05 to play, the Lopers hit one of their eight first half 3-pointers to back in front at 35-34 with 1:41 to play.
Javion Blake put the Ichabods back ahead with a bucket with 1:16 to play. Then the teams traded 3-pointers to end the half as Clark's 3-pointer at the buzzer sent the Ichabods to the locker room with a 39-38 lead.
After leading by as many as eight in the second half, including 63-55 with 7:41 to play in the game, Brady Skeens hit a layup cutting the lead to six with 7:29 remaining. Neither team would score over the next two minutes until Skeens hit another layup with 5:04 to play cutting the Loper lead to four.
The Lopers hit another 3-pointer and then Skeens cut the lead back to five after another layup. After a pair of free throws by UNK with 52 seconds remaining pushed the lead back to six, Cameron Wiggins hit a 3-pointer cutting the lead in half, but Washburn would get no closer as UNK hit all three of its free throws down the stretch for the six-point win.
Skeens led the Ichabods with 19 points recording his 15th double double of the season with 10 rebounds adding four assists. Blake scored 16 tying a career-high seven assists and Clark had 15.
Isaiah McKay led the Lopers (20-9) with a game-high 22 points.
The Ichabods finished 45 percent from the field hitting 29 of 64 from the field while UNK was 27 of 53 for a 51 percent average.Washburn was outshot from 3-point range as the Lopers hit 13 of 31 attempts and Washburn was 5 of 14. The Ichabods attempted one free throw in the second half going 6 of 7 for the game and Nebraska-Kearney was 8 of 11.
Chipman finishes his career with an 808-353 coaching record – all coming at Washburn.
 
 
Last time out for Nebraska-Kearney
(Dec. 7, 2017) -- Kearney, Neb. – Emporia State took advantage of 21 turnovers and went on a late 7-0 run to slip past Nebraska-Kearney, 77-69, Thursday night in Kansas.
The Hornets (5-4, 1-0) improve to 3-4 in games decided by 10 points or less while the Lopers fall to 5-6 (2-1).
In a game where UNK shot an even 50 percent (25 of 50) from the field and got a career-high 19 points from sophomore reserve forward Kyle Juhl, the Lopers still trailed most of the night. Some early hot shooting put Kearney up 28-20 but the Hornets closed the half on a 17-7 run to grab the lead back.
Scoring 21 points off those 21 turnovers and taking 15 more shots than the Lopers, Emporia led for most of the second half but never by more than five points until the very end.
A Juhl three tied the game at 63 with five minutes to go and then he hit two free throws a minute later to give UNK its first lead since late in the opening half. The Loper lead grew to four after a driving layup by senior guard Yashua Trent  but then E-State made its move.
Reserve forward Garin Vandiver, son of ESU head coach Shaun Vandiver, hit a jumper at the 2:03 mark and then starting guard Grant Shell hit his only bucket of the game after a Loper miss. Shell's thee came with 1:35 to go and was followed by a UNK turnover, one of three in the final 1:15. 
That miscue led to a jumper by starting guard Brian Morton (game-high 20 points) and Kearney didn't get closer than three points the rest of the way.
UNK held Emporia's one double figure scorer, All-MIAA guard Brandon Hall, in check. Averaging 18 points coming in, he tallied eight on 3 of 15 shooting. He did supply six assists and seven boards over 38 minutes.
Morton reached his point total by making 8 of 13 shots with fellow starter Stephaun Limuel having a double double (18 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks). Emporia got 27 points off its bench, including 13 from Vandiver and 10 from 6-8 forward Hassan Thomas.
Juhl was one of five Lopers to reach double figures. 
Next, Trent went all 40 minutes and had his first career double double (15 points and 10 assists) with Iowa senior Trey Lansman (13 points and 10 rebounds) having his third straight double double.
 
Washburn Ichabod Basketball HIstory
•    The Ichabods are 1,546-1,062-2 (.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 571-268 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 426-85 (.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 hit the road for two games starting on Dec. 16 at Lindenwood before facing Lincoln on Dec. 18. Washburn will wrap up the 2017 calendar year hosting Avila on Dec. 30 in its final non-conference match up of the season starting at 2 p.m.