• The Washburn Ichabods will face Fort Hays State in the semifinals of the MIAA Tournament on Saturday night at 6 p.m. in Municipal Auditorium.
• The Ichabods advanced to the semifinals after a 75-65 win over Nebraska-Kearney on Friday.
• The Ichabods improved to 21-8 on the season with the win over the Lopers defeating UNK for the third time this season.
• The Tigers moved onto the semifinals after an 86-85 overtime win over Missouri Southern improving to 19-11 on the season.
• Washburn leads the all-time series 94-70 and Saturday's meeting will be the 165th between the two schools.
• The Ichabods have won 11 of the last 15 in the series.
• The series is the third-most played for Washburn behind Emporia State (213) and Pittsburg State (181).
• The teams have met twice in the MIAA tournament with the Ichabods winning both games. The first was the Ichabods winning 67-54 in the MIAA Tournament semifinals on March 3, 2012 in Kansas City and in the 2017 first round win in Topeka 66-57.
• The Ichabods secured their first back to back 20-win seasons since the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons … the Ichabods were 20-10 last season.
• Javion Blake and Brady Skeens are tied for the team lead in scoring this season with both averaging 14.3 ppg.
• 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 14th on the all-time scoring chart with 1,146 points.
• Brady Skeens leads the team on the glass with 10.7 rebounds a game adding 14.3 points per game shooting 73 percent from the field hitting 162 of 223 attempts with 2.4 blocks per game … in MIAA play he is averaging 13.8 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 13th on the career scoring chart with 1,165 points.
• Javion Blake's 138 career 3-point field goals is 10th on the all-time chart.
• Cameron Wiggins is fifth on the Ichabod all-time 3-point chart sitting at 190.
• Brady Skeens is third on the all-time rebounding chart at Washburn with 961 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 239, which is 139 more than Ewan Auguste who is second on the chart with 100 blocks.
• In Brady Skeens 38 career double doubles at Washburn, he has averaged 15.1 ppg and 12.9 rpg.
• Randall Smith has 313 career assists which is tied for third on the Ichabod career chart.
• David Salach moved into the top 10 sitting seventh on the all-time blocks chart and now has 76.
• Friday's game with Nebraska-Kearney was Brady Skeen's 100th of his career in a Washburn jersey.
  14.3: The number of turnovers per game the Ichabods have had in the eight losses.
.636: Free throw percentage of the Ichabods (91 of 143) in the eight losses.
.441: Field goal percentage of the Ichabods (198 of 449) in the eight losses.
13.8: The number of turnovers per game the Ichabods have had in the 21 wins.
.705: Free throw percentage of the Ichabods (319 of 449) in the 21 wins.
.515: Field goal percentage of the Ichabods (561 of 1117) in the 21 wins.
73.2: Field goal percentage of Brady Skeens - best on Ichabod single season chart.
69: Number of blocks by Brady Skeens this season - second on Ichabod single chart … Skeens has the school's single season record of 97 which was set last season.
21: Wins by Brett Ballard this season on the Ichabod bench.
20: Second-most wins by an Ichabod coach in their first season on the bench (Bob Chipman - 1979-80 season) …and now …
18: Wins by Ichabod Hall of Famer Glenn Cafer in his first season on the Ichabod bench (1967-68 season) and A.C. Lonborg in his first season on the Ichabod bench (1923-24 season).
2 and 8: Number of points in the losses by the Ichabods have been defeated by in seven of their eight losses …this season the Ichabods have had three two-point losses, four eight-point losses and one 12-point loss.
9: Number of Ichabods who are in the 1,000 point/200 assist club after Brady Skeens went over the 200 assist mark against SBU on Saturday … he joined Javion Blake who joined the club earlier this season.
7: Number of steals Brady Skeens needs to become the sixth member in Ichabod history to join the 1,000 point/100 steal club.
2: Number of people in Ichabod program history in the 1,000 point/100 block club with Brady Skeens and Ewan Auguste.
11: Number of people in Ichabod program history in the 1,000 point/500 rebound club after Brady Skeens joined it this season.
  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. Washburn Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard …
• is 21-8 in his first season as the Ichabods' head coach and 54-37 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 2-0 against Fort Hays State.
 
Fort Hays State head coach Mark Johnson …
• he is the all-time coaching wins leader in FHSU history with a career record of 341-160 in 17 seasons, ranking among the top 20 active NCAA Division II men's basketball coaches in winning percentage (.643).
• has led the Tigers to seven NCAA Tournament appearances in his time at FHSU.
• became the all-time wins leader in Fort Hays State history on January 11, 2014 in a victory at home over Lincoln University, recording his 258th win.
• he reached his 300th career win on February 13, 2016 in a victory at Missouri Southern.
• has coached three All-Americans, 46 all-conference selections, a conference player of the year, a conference freshman of the year, and three conference defensive players of the year in his time at FHSU.
• is 14-12 against the Ichabods.
  Washburn 75, Nebraska-Kearney 65  -- March 2, 2018
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Washburn Ichabods advanced to the MIAA Tournament semifinals for the first time since 2012 and Cameron Wiggins broke the Washburn MIAA Tournament single game 3-point record in the process as the Ichabods topped Nebraska-Kearney 75-65 in Municipal Auditorium on Friday afternoon.
Wiggins connected on eight 3-pointers en route to a career-high 27 points in the win snapping the previous school tournament mark of five set by five different former Ichabods.
Washburn (21-8) led at the break 37-29 after the Lopers (16-14) jumped out to a lead of five at 15-10, but the Ichabods put together a 11-4 run over the next 3:31 to go up two on a lay-up by Jace Williams and the Ichabods would not give up the lead from that point.
With 5:34 to go in the first half, the Ichabods scored eight-straight points to go up 32-23 after a pair of David Salach free throws and stretched the lead to as many as 13 before the half until the Lopers hit a lay-up and a 3-pointer at the buzzer to trim the lead back to eight going into the locker room.
In the second with Washburn up 10, the Lopers cut into the lead pulling within five points twice, but the Ichabods scored nine-straight to go up 14 and the Lopers did not get within eight the rest of the game.
Following Wiggins career-high 27, Skeens recorded a double double with 10 points and 11 rebounds dishing out five assists with three blocks for his 38th career double double at Washburn. Javion Blake had 11 points with three assists.
Trey Lansman had 18 points leading the Lopers.
Washburn held the Lopers to 40 percent shooting from the field while hitting 25 of 47 of its own shots for a 53 percent clip. Washburn outrebounded the Lopers 37 to 23
  Washburn 76,Fort Hays State 60 -- Feb. 3, 2018
HAYS, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods won for the first time in Hays since the 2015-16 season handing the Tigers only their second loss at home in a 76-60 win over Fort Hays State to improve to 17-5 overall and 11-2 in the MIAA at Gross Memorial Coliseum on Saturday.
The Ichabods broke a 9-9 tie with 13:06 to play in the first half by using a 11-2 run over a 3:30 stretch building a 20-11 lead as Tyas Martin scored six points during the spurt. The Tigers came back with two more points before nine straight points from the Ichabods pushed the lead to 16 at 29-13 with 5:39 to go in the first half.
However the Tigers came back with a 10-0 run cutting the lead back to six before Washburn pushed the lead back to eight before a 3-pointer by the Tigers trimmed the halftime margin back to five at 36-31.
Washburn scored the first seven points of the second half going up 12, but the Tigers scored the next four points cutting the lead to 45-37 with 16:14 remaining, but would get no closer than 10 the rest of the way stretching the lead to as many as 19 in the second half en route to the win sweeping the regular season series.
Tyas Martin scored a career-high 18 points leading the Ichabods to the win hitting a career-high four 3-pointers as well not missing from deep. Javion Blake scored 16 points adding six assists and five rebounds while Brady Skeens recorded a double double with 11 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks. David Salach scored 11 of his 13 points in the first half in the win.
Washburn finished the game 22 of 47 from the field and hit 23 of 28 free throws compared to 9 of 12 for the Tiges. Washburn hit 9 of 20 3-pointers and forced 12 turnovers. The Ichabods held a 34-27 advantage on the glass as well.
  • The Tigers are 19-11 this season and finished 10-9 in MIAA play.
• The Tigers advanced with a win over Missouri Southern in the quarterfinals in overtime on March 2.
• Hadley Gillum leads the team in scoring and rebounding at 17.0 ppg and 6.8 rpg. Brady Werth (12.8 ppg) also averages double digits.
  • Washburn leads the all-time series 94-70 and Saturday's meeting will be the 165th between the two schools.
• The Ichabods have won 11 of the last 15 in the series.
• The series is the third-most played for Washburn behind Emporia State (213) and Pittsburg State (181).
• Fort Hays State is 5-2 against WU in overtime games.
  (March 2, 2018) KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A pair of free throws by Hadley Gillum with 1.3 seconds remaining in overtime pushed Fort Hays State past Missouri Southern 86-85 in a thrilling overtime battle at Municipal Auditorium in the MIAA Tournament Quarterfinals. The No. 7 seeded Tigers knocked out the No. 2 seeded Lions and will now play No. 3 seed Washburn on Saturday (Mar. 3) in the semifinals. The Tigers are now 19-11, while the Lions went to 20-9 overall.
 It was an intense battle throughout as neither team led by more than four points in the first half. Missouri Southern held a 34-30 lead at halftime after CJ Carr hit a jumper as time expired.
 In the second half, Missouri Southern pushed its lead out to eight twice before FHSU stormed back to lead by one with an 11-2 run between the 15:14 and 13:08 marks. From that point, the advantage went back and forth. By the end of the night, the game saw 28 lead changes and 21 ties.
 Marcus Cooper helped spark a 6-0 burst by the Tigers, scoring the first four points in the run between 4:33 and 2:49 remaining in regulation. Brady Werth capped the run with a layup, pushing the Tigers in front 70-69. The lead changed hands six more times and FHSU had a one-point lead with 37 seconds remaining. With eight seconds remaining on the clock, Kinzer Lambert of MSSU went to the free-throw line and was only able to convert one of two attempts. Kyler Kinnamon drove to the basket late, but the shot was blocked away with a second remaining. Gillum tried a desperation three-point attempt off the inbounds, but it was off the mark and the game went to overtime.
 The seesaw battled continued in overtime with Missouri Southern eventually taking an 85-84 lead on a pair of free throws by Carr with 47 seconds remaining. An Aaron Nicholson 3-point attempt from the right corner with 28 seconds remaining rattled in and out and luckily the ball went out of bounds off a Lion. Eventually, with time nearly expired, Marcus Cooper went to the basket, missed a layup, but Hadley Gillum cleaned up the miss and was fouled as he started to go back up with a second-chance attempt. Gillum went to the line, calmly dropped one toss, and Missouri Southern called timeout. Out of the break Gillum toed the line again, hit his second attempt, and then Cooper stole a long inbounds pass that went the length of the floor to end the game. The Tigers survived the epic battle, 86-85.
Gillum had a team-best 26 points and nearly produced a double-double by finishing with nine rebounds. Cooper scored all 23 of his points after halftime. Brady Werth added 16 points. The Tigers as a team shot 45.1 percent from the field. Most importantly, they shot 15-of-17 at the free-throw line (88.2 percent).
Getting as many free throws to drop was crucial for the Tigers, as they finished with six more field goals made in the game than the Lions (including three more 3-pointers). The Lions went to the line 39 times in the game and hit 29, holding a 14-point advantage over the Tigers at the line. That helped the Lions overcome shooting just 40 percent from the field and 17.4 percent beyond the 3-point line. Also, the Tigers were able to overtime a disparity of 20 rebounds as the Lions pulled down 52 compared to 32 for the Tigers.
Carr finished with a game-high 28 points for the Lions, while Lambert added 17 points. Elyjah Clark had a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Enis Memic nearly was just shy of the same feat with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Fort Hays State has now played five overtime games this season. After falling in the first three, the Tigers have taken the last two (double overtime win at Northeastern State and Missouri Southern in the MIAA Quarterfinals).
  • The Ichabods are 35-20 all-time in the MIAA Championship Tournament.
• The Ichabods are 2-2 in first round games (since expanding to 12 teams) … 18-6 in the quarterfinals, 10-7 in the semifinals and 5-5 in championship games.
• In games played in Kansas City, the Ichabods are 13-10.
• In quarterfinal games played in Kansas City, the Ichabods are 8-4. In semifinal games played in Municipal the Ichabods are 4-3 and in championship games in Kansas City the Ichabods are 1-3.
• As the No. 1 seed, the Ichabods are 21-3, at No. 2 they are 4-3, at No. 3 they are 1-2, at No. 4 they are 2-3, at No. 6 the Ichabods are 4-5, at No. 7 they are 0-1 and as the No. 8 seed they are 3-3.
• Washburn has never been the No. 5 seed.
• Former head coach Bob Chipman has won more MIAA Tournament games than any other coach. He has won 34 games going 34-19 recording a .653 winning percentage.
• Chipman's five tournament titles is the most by any coach. Tom Smith (MWSU), Steve Tappmeyer (NWMSU) and Ron Shumate (Southeast Missouri) and Kim Anderson (UCM/PSU) each have four titles.
• Overall, here's how the Ichabods have fared against MIAA opponents in the conference tournament by round and in Kansas City.
• First Round games were added for the MIAA Tournament starting in 2013 as the league expanded to 15 teams. The top four teams in the final standings received an automatic bye to Kansas City for the quarterfinals.
Team    1st Rnd     Qrts.    Semis    Finals   In KC    Total
UCM           —              4-0           1-1            —           3-1          5-1
ESU             —              4-1            —            —           3-1          4-1
FHSU         1-0              —            1-0            —           1-0          2-0
MSSU         —              1-0           2-1           0-1          1-1          3-2
MWSU       0-1              —            2-2           1-2          1-1          3-4
NSU            0-1              —            —            —           —           0-1
NWMSU   —              2-2           0-2           1-1          0-2          3-4
PSU             —              1-0           2-0           2-0          2-0          5-0
SBU            1-0             1-0           1-1           1-0           —           4-1
UCO           —              0-1            —            —           0-1          0-1
UNK            —              1-1            —            —           1-1          1-1
--- vs former members
MS&T         —              1-1            —            —           1-0          1-1
UMSL         —              1-0            —            —           —           1-0
SEMO         —               —            —            —           —           —
TSU             —              2-0           1-0            —           —           3-0
UNO           —               —            —            0-1          0-1          0-1
Totals      2-2         18-6       10-7       5-5      13-9    35-20
  •   The Ichabods are 1,560-1,067-2 (.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 583-273 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.
  •   The Ichabods are 433-87 (.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.
  •    The winner of the Washburn/Fort Hays State game will play in the MIAA Tournament Championship game at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday.