Opening Tip
• The Washburn Ichabods will open the home slate in Lee Arena on Wednesday when they will play host to Rockhurst at 7 p.m.
• The Ichabods are coming off a 1-1 weekend in their first action of the regular season topping Oklahoma Baptist 99-96 on Friday and then falling to No. 10-ranked Southern Nazarene 78-64.
• Rockhurst enters the game 1-1 after topping Purdue Northwest 103-73 and then losing to Davenport 73-62 at the GLIAC/GLVC Challenge at William Jewell.
• The Hawks also played a game against an NCAA Division I opponent dropping a 72-65 decision to DePaul in Chicago.
• Javion Blake leads the Ichabods in scoring at 24.5 ppg after scoring a career-high 36 in the season opener against Oklahoma Baptist.
• David Salach is averaging a double double with 12.0 ppg and 11.5 rpg after pulling down a career-high 14 rebounds against No. 10-ranked Southern Nazarene.
• Also averaging double figures for the Ichabods is Tyas Martin who tied an Ichabod best with 18 points against on 8 of 11 shooting from the field … he enters the game with Rockhurst averaging 10.0 ppg.
• Javion Blake has scored 1,248 career points placing him 11th all-time at Washburn needing 11 points to move into the top 10 on the Ichabod chart … his 145 career 3-point field goals is 10th on the all-time chart.
• David Salach has 80 career blocks which is sixth all-time at Washburn and he needs two to move into the top five.
• Ichabod Marketing Director Matt Hutchinson played basketball at Rockhurst from 2012-2015, where he graduated with both his undergraduate and graduate degrees spending three years on current Rockhurst head coach Drew Diener's staff as an assistant, where he coordinated travel, budget, scouting, recruiting visits and programming.
 
 Coaches
Washburn Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard …
• is 23-11 in his second season as the Ichabods' head coach and 56-41 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 0-1 against Rockhurst.
 
Rockhurst head coach Drew Diener …
• is in his fourth season on the Rockhurst bench and has gone 51-53.
• he was coach for six seasons at Cardinal Stritch University where he was 169-44.
• qualified for the national tournament in each of Diener's six seasons. The Wolves won the NAIA Division II national championship in 2013, and advanced to the Elite Eight in 2012 and the Sweet 16 in 2014 and 2015. 
• is 2-1 against the Ichabods.
 
 About Rockhurst
• Rockhurst is 1-1 this season after splitting a pair of games at the GLIAC/GLVC Challenge topping Purdue Northwest 103-73 and losing to Davenport 73-62.
• Chris Hamil leads the team in scoring at 19.5 ppg and Quinton Curry is scoring 15.0 ppg.
• Of Hamil's 14 field goals this season, eight have been from 3-point range.
• Rockhurst was picked ninth in the GLVC preseason coaches poll.
 
 Series history with Rockhurst
• Wednesday's meeting will be the 61st in the all-time series.
• Washburn leads the all-time series 31-29.
• Washburn has won 14 of the last 19 meetings,
• The Ichabods and the Hawks have only played six times since the 2004-05 season with Washburn going 3-3, but played every year between 1992 and 1999.
• The Ichabods have won six of the last nine meetings played on the Hawks' home court falling last season in Kansas City 89-87 in overtime.
• Overall the Ichabods are 10-19 in games played in Kansas City against the Hawks.
 
 Last time out for Rockhurst
Davenport 73, Rockhurst 62 -- nov. 10, 2018
LIBERTY, Mo. – Davenport scored 49 points in the second half to rally for a 73-62 victory over Rockhurst in the GLAIC-GLVC Challenge in Liberty, Missouri.
The Panthers opened the second half on a 20-7 run to take a 10-point lead at 44-34 with 13:10 left to play. The Hawks rallied to cut Davenport's lead to three at 61-58 with 3:44 left. The Panthers made six free throws and two 3-pointers in the final 3:31.
Quinton Curry led the Hawks with 21 points, including 12 points in the first half. Nick Volz posted 13 points and six rebounds. Chris Hamil scored 12 points. Curtis Lewis added seven points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Rockhurst shot 41.9 percent from the field and only made four of 23 three-point field goals. The Hawks jumped out to a 21-10 lead in the first 12 and a half minutes of the game. A Curtis Lewis layup gave the Hawks a 27-24 halftime lead.
 
 Last time out for the Ichabods
#10 Southern Nazarene 78, Washburn 64 -- nov. 10, 2018
BETHANY, Okla. – The Washburn Ichabods were unable to overcome a cold-shooting first half as they fell for the first time this season in a 78-64 loss to No. 10-ranked Southern Nazarene. 
Washburn was limited to 9 of 29 shooting in the first half while turning the ball over eight times in the frame as the Crimson Storm (2-0) took a 41-24 lead into the halftime locker room. SNU shot 41 percent going 13 of 32 from the field and 12 of 17 from the free throw line as the Ichabods were 3 of 7 from the charity stripe.
 The frigid shooting from the field in the second half continued as Washburn (1-1) started 3 of 13 and 1 of 7 from deep in the second half. Washburn did start to find the range as the Ichabods cut the lead to 14 after Jalen Lewis scored 11 straight points for Washburn cutting the margin to 56-42 using a 10-2 run.
 The Ichabods trimmed the difference to 12 at 60-48 on another 3-pointer by Lewis and then down to 10 at 60-50 with 7:54 to play on a driving layup by Javion Blake. After SNU went up by 21 back to back 3's by Drew Pyle and a layup by Devyn Wilson again cut the margin to 10 with 55 seconds to play using a 13-2 run over a 3:04 stretch forcing a timeout by the Crimson Storm. However SNU went 4 of 4 from the free throw line the rest of the way to keep the Ichabods down by double digits.
 Washburn was led by Lewis who scored all 14 of his points in the second half and Blake had 13 points. David Salach had a career-high 14 rebounds adding six points.
 Micha Speight led the Crimson Storm with 16 points and Jhonathan Dunn had 15 while Noah Starkey had 13.
Washburn finished 24 of 66 from the field for a 36 percent clip while improving to 15 of 37 in the second half from the field. Washburn was also 7 of 17 from the free throw line while the Crimson Storm was 19 of 26. SNU was 25 of 57 overall for a 44 percent average from the field. Washburn held a 41 to 40 advantage on the glass in the game. Washburn's bench also outscored SNU 33 to 17.
 
 Ichabod basketball history
• The Ichabods are 1,563-1,079-2 (.592) all-time in the 115th year in the program's history.
• Washburn is the 10th-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 586-274 since joining the conference and the NCAA.
• The Ichabods have recorded 27 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 433-87 (.848) all-time in Lee Arena.
• The 2018-19 season marks the 34th 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 continue its homestand facing former MIAA member Truman State on Nov. 20 before taking on Eastern New Mexico on Saturday, Nov. 24. The Ichabods will host Saint Mary on Nov. 29 before opening MIAA play on Dec. 6 with Southwest Baptist and Central Missouri on Dec. 8 before leaving for Las Vegas Dec. 17 and 18 for non-conference games with West Texas A&M and Indianapolis. Washburn will wrap up the fist semester with Avila on Dec. 30 and then return to MIAA play on Jan. 5 at Emporia State.