Opening Tip
• The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team continues its home stand on Thursday, Jan. 11 at 7:30 p.m. when they will play host to the Northeastern State RiverHawks in Lee Arena.
• The Ichabods are 11-3 and 5-0 in the MIAA after topping Emporia State 83-69 on Jan. 6.
• Against the RiverHawks, Washburn will be in search of its 10th-straight win and its first 6-0 start in MIAA play since the 2003-04 season when the Ichabods opened conference play by winning their first eight MIAA games en route to the MIAA regular season title.
• The RiverHawks are 3-11 overall and 0-6 in MIAA play coming off a 77-66 loss at home to Lincoln. 
• Northeastern State will be looking to snap a nine-game losing streak.
• The Ichabods trail the all-time series with Northeastern State 7-4 and have gone 3-2 in games against Northeastern State played Topeka including 69-50 win last year on Feb. 25 in the regular season finale.
• Javion Blake leads the Ichabods in scoring at 16.6 ppg hitting a team-high 35 3-pointers on 72 attempts.
• Javion Blake enters the game with 974 career points midway through his junior season and looks to become 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.
• Brady Skeens leads the team on the glass with 9.8 rebounds a game adding 13.6 points per game shooting 74 percent from the field hitting 76 of 103 attempts with 2.1 blocks per game.
• Washburn is second the MIAA in blocks at 4.1 per game and is second in assists averaging 16.4 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 50 percent.
• Washburn is second in rebounding offense at 38.1 per game and third in rebounding defense at 30.7 per game and ranked second in the MIAA in defensive rebounds with 28.2 per game and ranked second in rebounding margin at +7.4 per game.
• Brady Skeens is second in the MIAA in rebounds at 9.8 per game and leads the MIAA in blocks with 2.0 per game and 10th in steals per game with 1.5 … he is also first in field goal percentage (.738) … his field goal percentage is also first in the nation and his 28 total blocks is 29th while his total rebounds is 38th in the national rankings.
• Javion Blake made his 72nd consecutive start against Emporia 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 120 in his junior season which is tied for 10th on the all-time made chart.
• Ichabod opponents have attempted 40 more free throws than Washburn has this season (341 to 301) and has made 42 more hitting 249 compared to 207 for Washburn … in MIAA play, Washburn has attempted nine more free throws than its opponents making two more overall.
• Cameron Wiggins moved into eighth on the Ichabod all-time 3-point chart sitting at 152.
• 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 787 at Washburn … in third place on the career chart is Ewan Auguste who had 888 from 1997 to 2001.
• Brady Skeens also needs 19 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 two blocks to reach 200 for his career.
• Randall Smith has 268 career assists which is seventh on the Ichabod career charts.
• David Salach moved into the top 10 sitting seventh on the all-time blocks chart and now has 69.
 
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 11-3 in his first season as the Ichabods' head coach and 44-33 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 0-0 against Northeastern State.
 
Northeastern State head coach Mark Downey …
• was introduced as NSU's tenth men's basketball coach on April 11, 2017 and carries a 207-114 overall head coaching record, with four NCAA Division II Tournament Appearances, and has been named Coach of the Year six times. 
• comes to NSU after two seasons at Fort Wayne (NCAA DI) as the program's top assistant on the bench, and helped the Mastodons to appearances in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) and the NIT, while going 44-23. 
• prior to Fort Wayne, Downey spent the 2014-15 season at Bowling Green where they went 20-12, and he helped direct them into the second round of the CIT.
• spent the 2006-07 through 2009-10 seasons at Arkansas Tech where he recorded a 77-43 record. 
• is 0-0 against Washburn.
 
 
Last Time Out For the Ichabods
Washburn 83, Emporia state 69 -- Jan. 6, 2018
TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods used a 9-0 second half spurt turning a three-point lead into a 12-point advantage en route to their ninth-straight win in an 83-69 win over Emporia State in the first edition of the Turnpike Tussle. 
Leading by three with 9:18 to play in the game, the Ichabods (11-3, 5-0 MIAA) hit 6 of 8 attempts from the free throw line and Javion Blake capped the run with one of his five 3-pointers pushing Washburn to a 12-point lead with 6:35 to go. The Hornets cut the lead to 10 with 6:32 to go, but a traditional 3-point play by Brady Skeens off an assist from Jace Williams pushed the margin back to 13 and the Hornets (7-7, 2-3 MIAA) would not get closer than 11 the rest of the way as the Ichabods stretched the lead to as many as 17 with under a minute to play.
The Ichabods trailed 39-38 at the break after shooting 50 percent from the field as the Hornets led by as many as eight points in the opening stanza. The Hornets also shot 50 percent from the field hitting 13 of 26 shots going 10 of 12 from the charity stripe compared to 9 of 12 for the Ichabods.
In the second half, Washburn held the Hornets to 32 percent shooting limiting Emporia State to 8 of 25 from the field while the Ichabods were 14 of 29. Overall the Ichabods finished 26 of 53 from the field and Emporia State was 21 of 51. Washburn turned the ball over only four times in the second half and turned eight offensive rebounds (three by Williams) into 14 second chance points.
Blake led the Ichabods with 22 points inching closer to 1,000 career points lifting his two-plus year total to 974 points. Blake was 8 of 14 overall and 5 of 9 from deep to tie for game-high honors with Brandon Hall from Emporia State. Skeens scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half recording a career-high with eight free throws made in the game on nine attempts. David Salach tied a season-high with 11 points while Cameron Wiggins scored 10 off the bench. Williams tied a career-high with six rebounds adding two blocks, two steals and two assists chipping in four points.
 
About The Northeastern State RiverHawks
• Northeastern State is 3-11 and 0-6 overall and has lost its last nine games.
• Jamir Andrews leads the team scoring 13.9 ppg scoring 14.5 ppg in MIAA play.
• Gordon Hill is the RiverHawks' leading rebounder at 6.0 ppg.
• The RiverHawks' last win came on Nov. 21 at Oklahoma Baptist improving NSU to 3-2 on the season before starting their current nine-game losing streak.
 
Series History with Northeastern State
• Thursday's meeting will be the 12th all-time between the two schools and the RiverHawks lead the all-time series 7-4 …Washburn is 3-2 in games played in Topeka
• The RiverHawks won the first meeting on Jan. 24 in Tahlequah 80-73.
• The Ichabods swept the two regular season meetings last year and have won the last two overall in the series.
• 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 1-4 in games played in Tahlequah picking up its first win last season on Jan. 12 in a 67-55 win. 
 
Last time out for Northeastern State
(Jan. 6, 2018) -- TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State erased a ten point second half deficit but could not hold onto a late lead to fall 77-66 on Saturday evening to Lincoln at the NSU Event Center.  The RiverHawks (3-11, 0-6 MIAA) pulled ahead by eight points with eight minutes to go but a run of 14 straight points by the Blue Tigers (7-9, 1-5 MIAA) back peddled NSU to their ninth consecutive loss.
NSU had three in double-figure scoring with graduate guard Jamir Andrews having 13 points, Coryon Mason and Tanner Mouse both added 12.  Montre' Williams scored eight on Saturday to bring the senior to 910 career points.
The RiverHawks led for the better part of the first half but a 14-2 run leading into halftime and into the second period put them behind by ten (44-34) at the 16:45 mark.  The tide of momentum switched sides for nearly nine minutes with NSU forcing six Lincoln turnovers and going on a 23-5 run.  With 8:08 remaining following an Andrews' trey, Northeastern State was up 57-49.   In the following possession, the Blue Tigers hit a responding three-pointer and the RiverHawks never could regain their footing.  LU scored 14-straight points to erase the NSU advantage and retake the lead for the final time.
In the final eight minutes, NSU went 0-for-5 from the arc, and was 1-for-7 at the free-throw line; Lincoln shot 9-for-13 from the field with three treys, and was 7-for-7 on the line.
 
Washburn Ichabod Basketball HIstory
•    The Ichabods are 1,551-1,062-2 (.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 576-268 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 429-85 (.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 wrap up the four-game homestand with Central Oklahoma on Jan. 13 in Lee Arena before heading out for road contests at Missouri Southern on Jan. 17 and at Pittsburg State on Jan. 20 before returning to Lee Arena for games with Southwest Baptist on Jan. 24 and Central Missouri on Jan. 27.