Opening Tip
• The Washburn men's basketball team will wrap up the regular season home slate with No. 6 Northwest Missouri on Saturday at 3 p.m.
• The game will be a battle of the top two teams in the MIAA standings as the Ichabods and Bearcats enter the game with matching 12-2 records with four games left on the schedule after the Washburn/Northwest Missouri game.
• The Ichabods are 18-5 and 12-2 after defeating Missouri Western 78-74 last time out on Wednesday.
• The Bearcats are 20-2 and 12-2 in the mIAA after beating Emporia State 50-55 and have won their last five games.
• The Bearcats' lost 66-59 at Nebraska-Kearney on Jan. 18 and 83-77 at Missouri Southern fr their two conference defeats.
• The meeting on Saturday will be the second of the season between the Ichabods and the Bearcats.
• The Bearcats, who were ranked No. 1 at the time in the poll, topped the Ichabods 86-78 on Nov. 21 in Municipal Auditorium as part of the MIAA Challenge.
• The Ichabods lead the all-time series 60-41.
• The Ichabods are 21-10 against the Bearcats in Lee Arena and have won five of the last eight at home.
• Javion Blake leads the Ichabods in scoring at 15.3 ppg hitting a team-high 46 3-pointers on 108 attempts hitting 43 percent from deep.
• 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 16th on the all-time scoring chart with 1,093 points.
• Brady Skeens leads the team on the glass with 10.7 rebounds a game adding 14.4 points per game shooting 75 percent from the field hitting 129 of 173 attempts with 2.3 blocks per game … in MIAA play he is averaging 15.4 ppg and 11.1 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 and is tied for 16th on the career scoring chart with 1,082 points with Alex North.
• Washburn is second the MIAA in blocks (4.3) trailing Central Oklahoma who is averaging 5.0 blocks per game.
• Washburn leads the league in assists at 15.5 per contest and second in field goal percentage at .494. Northwest Missouri leads the league at 52 percent.
• The Ichabods are ranked first in field goal defense holding opponents to 40 percent shooting and Northwest Missouri is fifth at 43 percent.
• Washburn is second in rebounding offense at 38.2 per game and second in rebounding defense at 30.6 per game … Northwest Missouri is first in rebounding defense at 26.9 … Washburn is ranked second in the MIAA in defensive rebounds with 28.3 per game and ranked first in rebounding margin at +7.6 per game. Northwest Missouri is fifth th in the league at +3.5.
• Brady Skeens is first in the MIAA in rebounds at 10.7 per game and is first in the MIAA in blocks with 2.3 per game and ninth in steals per game with 1.3 … he is also first in field goal percentage (.744) … his field goal percentage is also first in the nation.
• Javion Blake made his 80th consecutive start against Missouri Western starting every game of his Washburn career.
• Javion Blake's 131 3-point field goals is 10th on the all-time chart.
• Cameron Wiggins is sixth on the Ichabod all-time 3-point chart sitting at 167 and he needs seven more to move into the top five all-time.
• Brady Skeens is third on the all-time rebounding chart at Washburn with 895 and passing Ewan Auguste who was in third recording 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 223, which is 123 more than Ewan Auguste who is second on the chart with 100 blocks.
• In Brady Skeens 34 career double doubles at Washburn, he has averaged 15.0 ppg and 13.3 rpg.
• Randall Smith has 289 career assists which is fifth on the Ichabod career chart and he needs seven more to move into fourth all-time at Washburn.
• David Salach moved into the top 10 sitting seventh on the all-time blocks chart and now has 76.
 
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 18-5 in his first season as the Ichabods' head coach and 51-35 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 Northwest Missouri.
 
Northwest Missouri head coach Ben McCollum…
• is 196-73 in his ninth season as the Bearcats' head coach.
• he is a 2003 graduate of Northwest Missouri.
• named the 20th head coach in Bearcat history.
n played for Northwest going 51-12 in two seasons including a 29-3 mark during a run to the NCAA Elite Eight during the 2001-02 season.  
• is 9-6 against the Ichabods.
 
Last Time Out For the Ichabods
Washburn 78, Missouri Western 74 -- Feb. 7, 2018
TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods used a late game surge to build a six point lead and held on after the margin was cut to one late in a 78-74 win over Missouri Western Wednesday night in Lee Arena. 
After the Griffons went in front 59-58 with 7:14 to play in the game, Washburn scored seven straight to go up six at 65-59 with 5:49 to play as Cameron Wiggins hit four straight free throws. The Griffons used an 11-6 run over the next 3:30 to cut the lead back to one, but a driving Randall Smith layup and two free throws by Tyas Martin, who made his first start of the season, pushed the lead out to five.
The Griffons cut the lead back to three with 19 seconds to go, but Martin hit three more free throws sealing the win after a layup by Missouri Western at the buzzer cut the lead back to four.
Washburn led by one at the end of the first half after both teams shot above 50 percent from the field as the Griffons were 16 of 27 overall (59 percent) and the Ichabods were 16 of 31 (52 percent).
The Ichabods (18-5, 12-2 MIAA) were led by Cameron Wiggins and Javion Blake who each scored 16 points. For Wiggins it was a season high hitting 4 of 6 3-pointers in the win. Brady Skeens recorded his 34th double double of his career and 10th of the season and third straight with 13 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks hitting 4 of 5 shots from the field. Martin scored 13.
Missouri Western was led by Lavon Hightower and Bryan Hudson who each chipped in 16 points.
Washburn outrebounded the Griffons (4-17, 2-12 MIAA) 36 to 26 overall and finished 48 percent from the field while the Ichabods were 47 percent overall. Washburn was 18 of 25 from the free throw line and the Griffons were 11 of 14.  Washburn turned 12 offensive rebounds into 14 second chance points and outscored Western 42 to 34 in the paint.  
 
Last Meeting with Northwest Missouri
#1 Northwest Missouri 86, Washburn 78 -- Nov. 21, 2017
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Washburn Ichabods went toe to toe with No. 1-ranked Northwest Missouri but fell 86-78 on Tuesday night in Municipal Auditorium. 
Washburn trailed 42-39 at the half after each team shot hit more than half of their shots as Washburn was 15 of 27 from the field and the Bearcats (4-0) were 14 of 26 from the field overall.
After the Bearcats led by five with 15:29 to go on one of their 14 3-pointers in the game, Washburn scored the next six to go up one at 52-51 with 12:04 remaining.
Washburn built the lead up to four with 7:44 to play on Javion Blake's 3-pointer, but Northwest scored 13 of the next 17 points over the next 2:27 with the reigning national player of the year in Justin Pitts scored seven points building a five point lead with 5:17 to go.
Washburn cut the lead to four with 3:14 to play, but did not get any closer in the non-conference loss to the Bearcats.
Tyler Geiman and Brady Skeens led the Ichabods with 15 points and Skeens recorded his 27th career double double and second straight with 15 points and 10 boards. David Salach scored 11 and Isaac Clark scored 10.
Pitts led Northwest with 22 points and Chris-Ebou Ndow had 19.
Washburn held a 29 to 23 advantage on the glass holding the Bearcats to two offensive rebounds. The Ichabods finished 30 of 57 from the field for a 53 percent average while Northwest finished 26 of 46 for 57 percent from the field. 
 
About The Northwest Missouri Bearcats
• Northwest Missouri is 20-2 and 12-2 in the MIAA this season after a 55-50 win over Emporia State on Wednesday.
• Reigning two-time MIAA MVP Justin Pitts leads the Bearcats in scoring and assists with 20.7 ppg and 5.3 apg as well as minutes at 35.6 per game. He is shooting 53 percent from the field and has hit 78 of 86 his free throw attempts this season (91 percent).  He has scored in double figures in 20 of 21 games. 
• Chris-Ebou Ndow is averaging 14.5 ppg with 7.4 rebounds per game. Joey Witthus is scoring 11.1 ppg and Brett Dougherty is scoring 10.0 ppg with 3.4 rpg. 
 
Series History with Northwest Missouri
• Wednesday's meeting will be the 102nd between the two schools and Washburn holds a 60-41 lead in the series.
• Washburn has won nine of the last 19 in the series.
• The Bearcats have won six of the last seven meetings.
• The series dates back to the 1940-41 season and they have played each other every year since WU joined the MIAA in 1989-90.
• The Ichabods are 21-10 against the Bearcats in Lee Arena and have won five of the last eight at home.
• Since the 1956-57 season, Washburn is 21-21 in Maryville and since joining the MIAA during the 1990-91 season, the Ichabods are 12-10 on the road.
• In the MIAA Tournament, the Ichabods are 3-5 against Northwest after the 2015 quarterfinal match up.
• In the NCAA Tournament, the Ichabods are 2-1 against the Bearcats after winning in the first round of the NCAA tournament in 2012 in Wichita Falls.
• The Ichabods won a regional final contest against the Bearcats in Topeka on March 10, 2001 advancing to the Elite Eight in Bakersfield, Calif., after a 67-61 win. 
 
Last time out for Northwest Missouri
(Feb. 7, 2018) -- EMPORIA, Kan. -- Northwest Missouri trailed by one with 3:30 to go but rallied for a 55-50 win over Emporia State. Joey Witthus led the Bearcats with 15 points as Northwest trailed by two at the break at 25-23.
 
Washburn Ichabod Basketball HIstory
•    The Ichabods are 1,558-1,064-2 (.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 581-270 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 433-86 (.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 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.