Opening Tip
• The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team will hit the road beginning a stretch of six of its final eight games of the season away from Lee Arena as they will face Nebraska-Kearney on Thursday, Feb. 1 at the Health and Sports Center in Kearney.
• The Ichabods are coming off their first home loss of the season in a 63-55 loss to Central Missouri on Jan. 27.
• The Ichabods are 15-5 and 9-2 in the MIAA tied with Northwest Missouri for the top spot in the conference race.
• The Lopers are 9-11 overall and 5-6 in the MIAA tied for eighth with Southwest Baptist and Fort Hays State in the standings.
• The Lopers are coming off an 82-79 loss at Lincoln last time out.
• The Lopers are 6-1 at home and 2-10 in away games this season … the lone loss was a 72-69 loss to Chadron State on Nov. 15 and since then the Lopers have won five straight including a 66-59 win over then-ranked No. 2 Northwest Missouri squad.
• Thursday's meeting will be the 42nd in the series and the Lopers lead 23-18 …Washburn snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Lopers in the first meeting this season on Dec. 9 in Topeka in a 78-71 win in Lee Arena.
• Washburn is 5-16 in games played in Kearney.
• Javion Blake leads the Ichabods in scoring at 15.5 ppg hitting a team-high 42 3-pointers on 98 attempts … he is scoring 15.2 ppg in MIAA play.
• Javion Blake became the 24th member of the Ichabod 1,000-point club and only the 14th to reach at least 1,000 points in under three full seasons in an Ichabod uniform … he is tied for 18th on the all-time scoring chart with 1,050 points.
• Brady Skeens leads the team on the glass with 10.3 rebounds a game adding 14.0 points per game shooting 74 percent from the field hitting 110 of 149 attempts with 2.2 blocks per game … in MIAA play he is averaging 14.9 ppg and 10.5 rpg.
• Brady Skeens became the 25th Ichabod to go over the 1,000 point mark in a career doing so at Pittsburg State earlier this season.
• Washburn is second the MIAA in blocks (4.2) trailing Central Oklahoma who is averaging 5.4 blocks per game.
• Washburn leads the league in assists at 15.7 per contest and third in field goal percentage at .490.
• The Ichabods are ranked first in field goal defense holding opponents to 40 percent shooting and Nebraska-Kearney is 11th.
• Washburn is second in rebounding offense at 38.4 per game and fourth in rebounding defense at 31.2 per game and ranked first in the MIAA in defensive rebounds with 28.4 per game and ranked second in rebounding margin at +7.2 per game. Nebraska-Kearney is 8th in rebound margin at +0.9.
• Brady Skeens is first in the MIAA in rebounds at 10.3 per game and is first in the MIAA in blocks with 2.1 per game and ninth in steals per game with 1.4 … he is also first in field goal percentage (.738) … his field goal percentage is also first in the nation.
• Javion Blake made his 78th consecutive start against Central Missouri starting every game of his Washburn career.
• Javion Blake's 127 3-point field goals is 10th on the all-time chart.
• Ichabod opponents have attempted 24 more free throws than Washburn has this season (460 to 436) and have made 29 more hitting 328 compared to 299 for Washburn … in MIAA play, Washburn has attempted 25 more free throws than its opponents making 15 more overall.
• Cameron Wiggins moved into seventh on the Ichabod all-time 3-point chart sitting at 163 passing Jordan Canfield (1992-97) who had 159 and he needs 11 more to move into the top three all-time.
• Brady Skeens is fourth on the all-time rebounding chart at Washburn with 855 and trails Ewan Auguste who is in third and had 888 from 1997 to 2001.
• Skeens also went over the 200 block mark for his career against Central Oklahoma and the Ichabod all-time leader now has 212, which is 112 more than Ewan Auguste who is second on the chart with 100 blocks.
• Randall Smith has 275 career assists which is seventh on the Ichabod career charts needing three to move into the top five all-time at Washburn.
• David Salach moved into the top 10 sitting seventh on the all-time blocks chart and now has 74.
• Washburn is 15-0 when outscoring its opponents this season and 1,555-0 in program history when ending the game with more points than its opposition.
 
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 15-5 in his first season as the Ichabods' head coach and 48-33 overall in his third year as a head coach.
• was named the Washburn Ichabod men's basketball head coach on April 6, 2017 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 1-0 against Nebraska-Kearney.
 
Central Missouri head coach Doug Karleskint …
• 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 50-33 in his third season.
• has recorded a 206-158 (.555) mark at UNK.
• is 8-3 against Washburn.  
 
Last Time Out For the Ichabods
Central Missouri 63, Washburn 55 -- Jan. 27, 2018
TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team led by 13 at the break, but came out frigid in the second half hitting only six field goals in a 63-55 loss to Central Missouri on Saturday in Lee Arena. 
Washburn (15-5, 9-2 MIAA) came out of the gates building a 15-6 lead with 11:49 to play and would eventually stretch the lead in the opening half to as many as 14 before taking a 32-19 lead over the Mules (16-4, 8-3 MIAA) into the locker room. The Ichabods hit 42 percent of their shots in the first half going 13 of 31 from the field while holding the Mules to 7 of 18 shooting forcing 13 first half turnovers.
In the second half, the tables were turned as the Mules outscored the Ichabods 26-7 over the first 11:19 of the half shooting 10 of 15 from the field during the run while the Ichabods were 2 of 6 with five turnovers as the Mules took a 45-39 lead with 9:20 to play. Washburn battled back to cut the Mule lead to two at 45-43 with 8:16 to play, but UCM scored the next six points going back up by with with 6:06 remaining.
With the Mules leading by seven at 58-51 with 1:10 to go, Javion Blake recorded a traditional three-point play cutting the lead to four and with 38 seconds left, he hit a free throw to cut the lead to three, but forced the foul and sending the Mules to the line, UCM hit five of its final six free throws to complete to comeback win snapping the Ichabod 15-game home court winning streak.
Tyas Martin led the Ichabods off the bench with 13 points on 6 of 7 shooting and Brady Skeens recorded his 31st double double of his career with 10 points and 14 rebounds adding three blocks and two assists. Jakob Lowrance scored 20 to lead four Mules in double-figure scoring.
Washburn was outrebounded 30 to 28 in the game and went 15 of 25 from the free throw line while the Mules were 18 of 23 overall. Washburn was also 2 of 17 from 3-point range including 0 of 7 in the second half. 
 
About The Nebraska-Kearney Lopers
• The Lopers are 9-11, 5-6 in the MIAA. 
• They are averaging 77.9 points per game on the year while giving up 77.8 points per game. 
• Trey Lansman leads four Lopers in double figures at 21.9 points per game adding 10.0 rebounds per game.
 
Series History with Nebraska-Kearney
• Thursday's meeting will be the 42nd in the series and the Lopers lead 23-18.
• 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 12-6 in games played in Topeka.
• 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 time out for Nebraska-Kearney
(Jan. 27, 2018) -- Kearney, Neb. – Senior point guard Marquise Mason hit a three pointer with 1.8 seconds left to help Lincoln beat Nebraska-Kearney, 82-79, Saturday evening in Jefferson City, Mo.
The Blue Tigers (11-10, 5-7) have now won three straight while the Lopers (9-11, 5-6) see a three-game win streak come to an end.
UNK trailed for most of the day and by as many as 10 points but a three from York senior Ty Danielson with 47 seconds left tied the game at 79. Lincoln, after a Danielson foul at the 24 second mark, then ran the clock down and Mason, shooting 39 percent on the year from behind the arc, hit a triple from the right side. The Lopers never got a shot off after in bounding the ball.
Junior guard Amarionetz Ivory (season-high 33 points and five rebounds) and junior forward Terrance Smith (23 points and six rebounds) paced Lincoln all night long. The pair, averaging around 28 points per game on the year, combined to go 21 of 30 from the field (6 of 11 threes). The rest of the Blue Tigers went for 26 points with Mason 1 of 6 from the field before his game winner.
Both teams were strong offensively, UNK shooting 54 percent (28 of 52) from the field and Lincoln 58 percent (29 of 50). The Blue Tigers were plus four on the glass, 26-22, but committed six more turnovers, 16-10, Lincoln did hit nine threes; UNK came in allowing just six per game which is the lowest in the MIAA.
Five Lopers were in double digits, led by Danielson (19) and Iowa senior forward Trey Lansman (17). Both attempted 11 shots with Danielson hitting seven and Lansman going 8 of 10 at the line. Next, Bellevue sophomore AJ Jackson tallied a season-best 12 points on 6 of 8 shooting with senior guards Lane Rohrich (Pierce) and Yashua Trent (Chicago) tallying 10 apiece. 
 
Washburn Ichabod Basketball HIstory
•    The Ichabods are 1,555-1,064-2 (.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 579-270 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 432-86 (.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 stay on the road facing Fort Hays State on Feb. 3 before returning to Lee Arena for the final two regular season home games of the season with Missouri Western on Feb. 7 and Northwest Missouri on Feb. 10. The Ichabods will then have their final four games on the road at Emporia State on Feb. 13, Southwest Baptist on Feb. 17, Central Oklahoma on Feb. 22 and Northeastern State on Feb. 24.