. The Washburn Ichabods will hit the road for a pair of games starting on Thursday at Nebraska-Kearney and Fort Hays State on Saturday continuing MIAA play.
. Washburn (8-6, 3-2 MIAA) is coming off an 73-68 loss to No. 2-ranked Northwest Missouri State last time out in Lee Arena.
. The Lopers are 10-5 overall and 4-2 in the MIAA and have won their last two games and six of their last seven overall.
. The Lopers are 7-1 in home games this season.
. The Lopers are coming off weekend road wins at Rogers State (62-58) on Jan. 9 and at Northeastern State (83-79) in overtime on Jan. 11.
. The Ichabods were tabbed third in both the MIAA Preseason Coaches and Preseason Media Polls for the second year in a row which were released on Oct. 9 at the MIAA Basketball Media Day in Kansas City.
  . Tyler Geiman leads the Ichabods in scoring at 15.4 ppg as well as assists (6.4) and minutes (36.1) and he is tied for second in rebounds (5.8).
. Geiman has 112 3-pointers in his Washburn career … he is 13th on the all-time 3-point chart.
. Geiman's 327 career assist chart is third all-time at Washburn  … he passed Javion Blake for third with 322 career assists.
.  Jalen Lewis is scoring 13.4 ppg while Drew Maschoff is scoring 11.9 ppg and Jonny Clausing is scoring 10.6 ppg.
.  Clausing, who is averaging 12.2 ppg in MIAA play, leads the team in rebounds at 8.1 rpg (fourth in the MIAA) … he also leads the team in blocks at 2.4 per game which leads the MIAA and is also 10th in the latest national rankings.
. Rathen Carter leads the team in scoring off the bench at 5.4 ppg.
. Connor Deffebaugh made his first start at Washburn against Missouri Western scoring four points with three rebounds playing 15 minutes.
. The Ichabods are currently ninth in the MIAA in field goal percentage at .453 (391 of 863) and they rank seventh in field goal defense at .432 (356 of 825).
. The Ichabods are currently fifth in the MIAA in scoring average at 76.8 ppg and they rank eighth in scoring defense at 70.2 ppg.
. Tyler Geiman is first in the MIAA in assists (6.4 apg) and leads the MIAA in minutes per game at 36.1 and is 10th in scoring.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
.  is 54-24 in his third season as the Ichabods' head coach and 87-53 overall in his fifth year as a head coach.
.  has led the Ichabods to two NCAA postseason appearances in both seasons at Washburn.
.  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 4-0 against Nebraska-Kearney.
 
NEBRASKA-KEARNEY HEAD COACH KEVIN LOFT
.   is in his 14th year as head coach at Nebraska-Kearney after being promoted from co-head coach three seasons ago.
.   in his fifth season as the lone head coach on the squad, he has gone 77-59.
.   has recorded a 223-184 overall mark at UNK in his 14th season.
.   is 8-6 against Washburn.
  NORTHWEST MISSOURI (15-1, 5-1 MIAA)
WASHBURN (8-6, 3-2 MIAA)
JAN. 11, 2020
TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods battled down to the final minute but came up short in a 73-68 loss to the No. 2-ranked Northwest Missouri Bearcats on Saturday afternoon in Lee Arena.
In the first half, the Ichabods (8-6, 3-2 MIAA) trailed by six at the break after shooting 68 percent from the field hitting 13 of 19 shots overall as Tyler Geiman scored 11 of is 13 points in the opening stanza. Geiman connected on a 3-pointer with 7:47 to go to give the Ichabods a 24-22 lead, but seven straight points by the Bearcats (15-1, 5-1 MIAA) pushed the lead to 29-24. Northwest hit 16 of 28 shots and 5 of 11 from deep.
Northwest pushed the lead to 11 at 46-35 scoring the first five points of the second half but the Ichabods used a 14-3 run over the next 4:56 tying the game at 49. After a 3-pointer and a lay up by the Bearcats, stretching the lead to three at 54-51, Washburn used a 9-2 run going up 60-56 capped by a Jalen Lewis jumper with 7:31 remaining.
Northwest tied the score at 62 with 4:17 to play, then Washburn went back up 65-62 when Lewis was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 3:57 left. An 8-0 by the Bearcats put them up 70-65 with 47 seconds to play as Washburn missed both field goal attempts and the Bearcats hit all six free throw attempts going up five.
A Lewis 3-pointer with 23 seconds left cut the Bearcat advantage to two at 70-68, but the Bearcats hit their final free throw attempts and Washburn's final field goal attempts missed as the Bearcats held on for the win.
Lewis led the Ichabods with 19 points going 6 of 11 from the field and 4 of 5 from 3-point range while Geiman finished with 13 points. Jace Williams scored nine points off the bench for Washburn. Geiman also had six assists and five rebounds.
Ryan Hawkins led Northwest with 32 points as three different Bearcats played all 40 minutes.
Washburn finished 26 of 46 from the field hitting 57 percent overall while Northwest was 23 of 44 overall at 52 percent. Washburn was 7 of 13 from the free throw line while the Bearcats were 20 of 26 including 16 of 22 in the second half.
Northwest held a 30 to 19 advantage on the glass turning 10 offensive rebounds into 12 points. The Ichabods forced 12 turnovers leading to 14 points and both team scored 32 points in the paint.
  . The Lopers are 10-5 overall and 4-2 in the MIAA after topping Rogers State and Northeastern State on the road last weekend.
. The Lopers have won six of their last seven after dropping three of their first four games of the season.
. Morgan Soucie leads the team in scoring at 15.1 ppg adding 5.2 rebounds per game … he is averaging 18.3 ppg in MIAA play.
. AJ Jackson is scoring 12.6 ppg and Jake Walker is scoring 11.1 ppg scoring 15.0 ppg in MIAA play.
. The Lopers are scoring 67.7 ppg and allowing 65.4 ppg.
  .     Thursday's meeting will be the 44th in the series and the Lopers lead 23-21.
.     The Ichabods have won the last four in the series after the Lopes had won the previous eight.
.     All-time in games in Kearney, the Ichabods are 7-16.
.     Washburn leads 13-6 in games played in Topeka.
.     The two teams have only played twice in the MIAA Tournament with the teams splitting a pair of games. 
  WASHBURN 89 (12-3)
NEBRASKA-KEARNEY 58
JANUARY 16, 2019
TOPEKA, Kan. – The Nebraska-Kearney Lopers scored the first point of the game, but the Ichabods responded by scoring the next 12 points jumping out to a 16 to 3 lead in the first eight minutes of the game en route to an 89-54 win on Wednesday night in Lee Arena. 
The Ichabods would go on to build their lead to 24 to 7 in the first half with 6:23 to play before taking a 34 to 18 lead into the halftime break as Washburn held UNK to 7 of 29 shooting in the first half.
Nebraska-Kearney (5-11, 0-7 MIAA) closed the margin to 13 in the second half at 45-31 with 15:19 to play in the game, but the Ichabods kicked off a 24-11 run pushing the lead to 26 at 69-43 going on to lead by as many as 33 with under a minute to play breaking the series record with the Lopers for the largest win in the 44-game history topping a 30-point win over UNK on Dec. 14, 1951 in Kearrney in a 94-64 Ichabod win.
Tyler Geiman dished out the had a career-high 16 assists falling just one shy of tying the Ichabod record set by all-time assists leader Jordan Canfield who had 17 against Missouri-St. Louis on Feb. 11, 1995. Geiman's total matched the 16 by Randall Smith notched against Missouri Southern on Feb. 6, 2016. Geiman added a career-high nine rebounds as well.
Sevon Witt scored a career-high 23 points on 9 of 11 shooting from the field with five rebounds. Tyas Martin scored 16 with eight rebounds and David Salach scored 13 with six boards.
Kyle Juhl and Chase Winchester each had 12 points to lead the Lopers.
Washburn finished 51 percent from the field hitting 35 of 69 shots overall going 6 of 12 from 3-point range in the second half after going 0 for 9 in the opening 20 minutes. UNK was held to 20 of 62 shooting overall and improved to 8 of 16 from deep in the second half after hitting only one of eight attempts in the first half. Washburn was 13 of 16 from the free throw line and the Lopers were 9 of 13.
On the glass, the Ichabods held a 45 to 35 advantage and outscored the Lopers 21 to 2 in fast break points and 51 to 21 in bench points as well as 59 to 18 in the paint. The Ichabods also forced 15 turnovers leading to 24 points.
  .  The Ichabods are 1594-1081-2 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 613-282 since joining the conference and the NCAA.
.  The Ichabods have recorded 28 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 451-92 (.848) all-time in Lee Arena.
.  The 2019-20 season marks the 36th 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 Ichabods will be back in action at Fort Hays State on Jan. 18 before returning home to face Central Oklahoma on Jan. 23.