Opening Tip
• The Washburn Ichabods are back in Lee Arena for a Valentine's Day date with Northeastern State at 7:30 p.m. in Lee Arena.
• Washburn is 17-5 and 10-3 in the MIAA sitting in second place in the conference standings after topping Southwest Baptist last time out 74-65 in its final trip to Bolivar with SBU as an MIAA opponent.
• Northeastern State is 12-10 this season going 6-7 in the MIAA and have lost its last two games after winning six in a row. The RiverHawks fell to Central Oklahoma 78-67 last time out on Feb. 9.
• Javion Blake leads the Ichabods in scoring at 20.0 ppg which is fifth in the MIAA rankings … in MIAA games Blake is averaging 21.1 ppg.
• David Salach is averaging 12.9 ppg and 5.7 rpg after scoring a career-high 24 points against Fort Hays State earlier this season … Salach is tied for fifth in the MIAA in blocks at 1.3 per game.
• Jalen Lewis is averaging 8.7 ppg off the bench and he is 15th in the MIAA in 3-point field goals made per game with 1.9 … he scored a career-high 20 point against Missouri Southern … he has hit 29 of 65 3-point attempts in MIAA games and his 42 3-pointers made this season is second on team and is third on the Ichabod freshman chart.
• Tyas Martin is scoring 8.6 ppg and Sevon Witt is scoring 8.2 ppg with 3.6 rpg overall but in MIAA play he is averaging 9.7 ppg and 4.2 rpg.
• Tyler Geiman is scoring 7.9 ppg as well as dishing out 5.3 assists per game, which is second in the MIAA behind Northwest Missouri's Trevor Hudgins who has 5.9 per game … Geiman has 73 assists and 17 turnovers in MIAA play and he scored a career-high 19 points against Missouri Southern.
• Devyn Wilson is averaging 7.8 ppg off the bench scoring a career high 19 against Central Missouri with 2.9 rebounds and Will McKee is averaging 6.7 ppg while pulling down 5.4 rebounds per game.
• Javion Blake has scored 1,640 career points placing him sixth all-time at Washburn on the scoring chart … next on the list at No. 5 is Harold Brown who scored 1,651 points from 1970 to 1974 … the fourth-leading scoring in school history is Ryan Murphy who scored 1,654 points from 1999-2003 … Blake's 189 career 3-point field goals is sixth on the all-time chart … he has played 3,390 career minutes which is third at Washburn … Blake also needs only two steals to become the sixth Ichabod to score at least 1,000 points and have at least 100 steals.
• David Salach has 101 career blocks which is second all-time at Washburn.
 
 MIAA Bod numbers
• 84.5 WU is third in the MIAA in scoring offense
• 74.0 WU is eighth in the MIAA in scoring defense
• 10.6 WU is second in the MIAA in scoring margin
• .430 WU is third in the MIAA in defensive field goal percentage
• +5.2 WU is second in the MIAA in rebounding margin
• 3.41 WU is second in the MIAA in blocks
• 17.55 WU is leading the MIAA in assists
• .558 David Salach is second in the MIAA in field goal percentage
 
 Coaches
Washburn Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard …
• is 39-15 in his second season as the Ichabods' head coach and 72-45 overall in his fourth 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 Northeastern State.
 
Northeastern State head coach Mark Downey …
• is 20-21 in his second season at Northeastern State.
• was introduced as NSU's tenth men's basketball coach on April 11, 2017 and carries a 225-132 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 0-2 against Washburn.  
 
 About Northeastern State
• Northeastern State is 12-10 and 6-7 in the MIAA.
• The RiverHawks have lost their last two games including a 78-67 loss to Central Oklahoma last time out on Feb. 9.
• Caleb Smith is averaging 16.0 ppg to lead the team and he is averaging 17.1 ppg in MIAA play.
• Tanner Mouse is scoring 13.3 ppg and Trent Cantrell is scoring 11.9 ppg and has improved his scoring to 14.0 ppg in MIAA play.
• In home games the RiverHawks are 8-5 this season going 4-5 in road games and 3-3 in MIAA road games.
 
 Series history with Northeastern State
• Saturday's meeting will be the 14th all-time between the two schools and the RiverHawks lead the all-time series 7-6.
• The Ichabods have won the last four meetings 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 2-4 in games played in Tahlequah and the Ichabods are 4-2 in games played in Lee Arena.
 
 Last Meeting with Northeastern State
Washburn 88, Northeastern State 86 -- Feb. 24, 2018
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Washburn Ichabods held off a huge rally by Northeastern State in the second half to pick up an 88-86 win in overtime over the RiverHawks wrapping up the regular season 20-8 and 14-5 in the MIAA. 
After the Ichabods let a 20-point second half lead slip away sending the game to overtime, a drive by Randall Smith put the Ichabods up two at 78-76. The RiverHawks came up empty on their next trip and Tyas Martin hit a pair of free throws pushing the lead to 80-76 with 3:58 to go. The teams traded free throws and buckets. With WU leading by two, Brady Skeens hit one of two free throws with 1:59 to go up three at 86-83. Wiggins was then called for a foul on a 3-point attempt by Jamir Andrews and would hit all three free throws to tie the score at 86 with 1:40 to play.
Smith went to the lane with 1:11 to go and hit one to put the Ichabods up 87-86 with 1:11 to play in the game. The RiverHawks came up empty on their next attempt as did the Ichabods.
Drew Pyle hit a free throw with two seconds to play to put WU up 88-86 and NSU came up empty as the Ichabods intercepted the ensuing inbounds pass hanging on the for the win.
Washburn stretched its lead out to as many as 20 in the second half before the RiverHawks would chip away at the lead cutting it to six with 10:15 to go after scoring 10-straight points. Washburn built the lead back to 12 with 6:33 to go after a free throw by Brady Skeens following a 3-pointer by Cameron Wiggins.
However the RiverHawks came back with five straight points trimming the Ichabod lead to seven with 5:08 to play. The run continued to cut the lead back to four, but a Skeens bucket pushed it back to six with 4:16 to go.
Neither team would score until a baseline jumper by Jace Williams pushed the margin back to eight with 2:38 left, but Jamir Andrews hit a 3 from the top of the key with 2:18 to go cut the lead back to five.
After a timeout by the RiverHawks, Williams hit both free throws to put Washburn up 75-70 with 1:36 to go. The Ichabods committed a foul on a 3-point attempt with 1:03 to go and Andrews hit all three attempts cutting the lead to two with 1:03 to go.
Wiggins was fouled with 21 seconds to play in the game and hit one to go up three, but a 3-pointer by Tanner Mouse knotted the score at 76 sending the game to overtime.
In the first half, the Ichabods led by as many as 21 at after running a 1-point lead at 16-15 into an 18-point lead going on a 17-0 run over a 4:40 run as Washburn hit 5 of 9 from the field including 2 of 3 from deep while holding the RiverHawks 0 of 7 from the field. Washburn would go on to lead by 14 at the break taking a 48-34 advantage into the locker room paced by Tyler Geiman's nine points hitting all three of his 3-point attempts in the frame.
Washburn was outscored 42 to 28 in the second half helping the RiverHawks rally to push the game to overtime.
Skeens led the Ichabods with 18 points and 10 rebounds for his 37th career double double adding two assists. Cameron Wiggins has 12 points followed by Geiman's 11 points. Blake had 10 points before fouling out and Martin had 10.
Andrews scored a career-high 39 points hitting nine 3-pointers.
Washburn shot 50 percent in the game going 29 of 58 from the field. In the overtime period Washburn was 3 of 5 from the field and NSU was 1 of 3 in the extra frame.
Washburn's bench outscored the NSU bench 33 to 17.
 
 Last time out for the Ichabods
Washburn 74, Southwest Baptist 65 -- Feb. 9, 2019
BOLIVAR, Mo. – The Washburn Ichabods moved into second place standings all by themselves with a 74-65 win over Southwest Baptist in their final trip to Bolivar as an MIAA opponent. Washburn moves to 17-5 overall and 10-3 in the MIAA.
Javion Blake led all scorers with his fourth 30-point game of the season in an efficient 11 of 17 shooting performance hitting 4 of 9 3-point attempts adding four assists and three steals. He was the only double figure scorer for Washburn and moved past Ewan Auguste into sixth on the all-time Ichabod scoring chart.
Washburn led 40-27 at the break over the Bearcats (11-11, 5-8 MIAA) after leading by as many as 14 in the first behind 53 percent shooting holding SBU to 32 percent shooting from the field. However SBU was able to keep the score as close as they did going 6 of 7 from the free throw line while the Ichabods missed their only attempt.
In the second half, the Bearcats came out of the gates with an 18-3 run taking the lead from Washburn at 45-43 with 15:01 to play in the game. The Ichabods came back with a 13-6 run of their own to go up five at 56-51 with 9:28 to play.
In a game of runs, SBU returned server with a 9-2 run building a 59-58 advantage with 7:26 to go, but the Ichabods pushed ahead with a 12-3 burst of their own going up 70-62 with 4:10 to go and SBU would not get any closer than seven the rest of the way as the Ichabods completed the two-game road trip with wins over SBU and Central Missouri.
Following Blake's 30 points, Tyler Geiman scored eight points along with Jalen Lewis. Gieman had six rebounds to go with five assists. Salach scored seven with five rebounds.
Godfrey Rolle led the Bearcats with 18 points.
Washburn finished the game 30 of 62 overall for a 48 percent clip while holding SBU to 38 percent shooting going 20 of 53. Washburn was 5 of 10 from the free throw line while SBU was 17 of 19.
The Ichabods held a 38 to 34 advantage on the glass and forced 13 turnovers leading to 19 points. 
 
 D2SIDA Regional Rankings - as of Feb. 11
Week 13 poll                             Points   Record   LW            
1        Northwest Mo                                         60            23-0          1              
T-2    Northern State                                        50            19-5          3              
T-2    Southern Nazarene                                 50            20-4          2              
4       Missouri Souther• 44                           19-5             4             
5       Washbur• 34                                         17-5              6             
6       Wayne State                                           24            17-7          5              
7        Lincol• 23                                              16-6             7             
8       St. Cloud State                                        19            17-7          8              
9       Southern Arkansas                                 12            17-5         10             
10     Minnesota State                                       7              16-8          9
Also receiving votes: MSU Moorhead - 3, Southeastern Okla. - 3, East Central - 1                                          

 Ichabod basketball history
• The Ichabods are 1,579-1,073-2 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 600-278 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 443-88 (.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 take on Central Oklahoma on Feb. 16. After a pair of road games at Lindenwood on Feb. 21 and at Lincoln on Feb. 23, Washburn returns home to face Northwest Missouri on Feb. 28 before wrapping up the regular season against Missouri Western on Senior Day on March 2. The MIAA Tournament will start on March 5 in Kansas City as now the top 10 teams in the final standings will go straight to Kansas City with the top two teams in the final standings will receive first round byes.