> The Washburn Ichabods start the grind of MIAA play after wrapping up non-conference play with a 1-1 trip to Fort Lauderdale as they will host Emporia State on Jan. 4 in Lee Arena.
> Washburn (6-5, 1-1 MIAA) has been off the court since a Dec. 19 loss to Palm Beach Atlantic, 82-66, at the Cruzin' Classic. Washburn topped Tampa on the 18th in an 87-73 win.
> Washburn has not played a conference game since a 90-83 loss to No. 14-ranked Missouri Southern on Dec. 7 in Joplin.
> Washburn's MIAA win was a 66-59 victory at Pittsburg State.
> The Hornets are coming off an 87-57 win over Baker for their fifth victory in a row.
> ESU enters the game with an 8-3 record and a 2-0 mark in the MIAA.
> The Hornets topped Nebraska-Kearney (78-68) and Fort Hays State (69-66) for their two conference wins.
> 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 15.5 ppg as well as assists (6.4) and minutes (35.9) and he is fourth in rebounds (5.7).
> Geiman was named the MIAA player of the Week on Dec. 16 after he had 15 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds in the game. It was Geiman's fourth double double of his career and his third this season just coming up a rebound short of the first triple double in program history.
> Geiman has 106 3-pointers in his Washburn career … he is 15th on the all-time 3-point chart.
> Geiman's 307 career assist chart … he needs six to move into fifth all time (313-Kyle Unruh, 1979-82), 15 to move into fourth (321-Randall Smith, 2015-18) and 16 to pass Javion Blake for third with 322 career assists.
> Drew Maschoff is scoring 12.2 ppg and Jalen Lewis is scoring 12.1 ppg.
> Jonny Clausing is scoring 9.9 ppg and leads the team in rebounds at 8.2 rpg (fourth in the MIAA) … he also leads the team in blocks at 2.5 per game which leads the MIAA and is also ninth in the latest national rankings.
> Tyler Nelson is the Ichabods' leading scorer off the bench at 5.5 ppg scoring.
> The Ichabods are currently ninth in the MIAA in field goal percentage at .442 (311 of 704) and they rank sixth in field goal defense at .422 (272 of 645).
> Tyler Geiman is second in the MIAA in assists (6.4 apg) and leads the MIAA in minutes per game at 35.9.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
>  is 52-23 in his third season as the Ichabods' head coach and 85-53 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 2-1 against Emporia State.
 
EMPORIA STATE HEAD COACH CRAIG DOTY
> is 22-19 in his second season at Emporia State.
>  is in his eighth season as a head coach at the D2, NAIA, and NJCAA level he is 184-69 with three national championships.
>  In two seasons at Graceland, Doty went 49-22 and won the 2018 NAIA Division I National Championship in Municipal Auditorium.
>  Prior to Graceland, Doty spent four years as the head coach at Rock Valley College winning two national championships and appearing in three straight NJCAA Division III title games to finish with a 113-28 record.
>  is 0-1 against Washburn.
  PALM BEACH ATLANTIC 82 (8-3)
WASHBURN 66 (6-5)
DEC. 19, 2019
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Washburn Ichabods ran into a hot-shooting Palm Beach Atlantic squad and fell 82-66 on Thursday in their final game of the Cruzin' Classic.
The Ichabods (6-5) committed a 20 turnovers, one shy of their season high, while the Sailfish (8-3) hit 12 of 20 3-pointers in the game led by Darhius Nunn's 24 points as he was 8 of 10 from 3-point range.
Overall, the Ichabods shot 47 percent from the field hitting 13 of 23 shooting of their second half shots, but could not contain a 59 percent-shooting PBU team.
Drew Maschoff led the Ichabods for the second-straight game with 17 points after scoring 24 against Tampa last night. Tyler Geiman had 13 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
Washburn had a 29-27 advantage on the glass recording four offensive rebounds. Palm Beach Atlantic recorded 27 points off of the Ichabods 20 turnovers.
Washburn trailed 46-32 at the break shooting 39 percent from the field while the Sailfish shot 52 percent including a 7 of 12 shooting from 3-point range. Washburn was outscored 32 to 18 in the paint as the Ichabods hit 12 3-pointers in the game and 11 2-point shots.
  > ESU enters the game with an 8-3 record and a 2-0 mark in the MIAA.
> The Hornets are coming off an 87-57 win over Baker for their fifth victory in a row.
> The Hornets topped Nebraska-Kearney (78-68) and Fort Hays State (69-66) for their two conference wins.
> Jumah'Ri Thurner leads the team in scoring at 14.4 ppg while Keyon Thomas is scoring 13.6 and Brenden VanDyke is scoring 10.5 ppg while leading the team in rebounding at 7.4 rpg.
> The Hornets are averaging 82.6 ppg and allowing 71.2 ppg hitting 36 percent of their 3-point attempts (99-278) and shooting 48 percent from the field overall (327-684).
  >   The meeting on Saturday will be the 215th meeting between the two schools and the Ichabods lead at 111-103. This is the most-played series for Washburn. Emporia State lists the all-time record at 108-104 in favor of the Ichabods.
>   The Ichabods have won 11 of the last 16 meetings in the series and six of the last eight overall.
>   The two teams started the series in 1905-06, Washburn's first recorded year of basketball, and they have met every year since the 1945-46 season.
>   This will be the 76th-straight year they have played each other at least once.
>   The Ichabods are 26-8 against the Hornets in Lee Arena.
>   Washburn is 34-18 against ESU in MIAA games.
>   Washburn is 4-1 against ESU in MIAA Postseason tournament games.
  WASHBRUN 94 (10-2, 3-0 MIAA)
EMPORIA STATE 81 (6-6, 1-2 MIAA)
Jan. 5, 2019
EMPORIA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods remained perfect in MIAA play with 94-81 win over Emporia State improving to 10-2 on the season and 3-0 in the MIAA.
The Ichabods led from start to finish in the first half as Tyas Martin scored the first six points of the game for Washburn as the Ichabods jumped out to a 19-9 lead with 13:12 to go in the frame. Washburn broke a 9-9 tie with a 10-0 run over the next 3:30 as Javion Blake hit a pair of 3-pointers while the Hornets were 0-6 during the Washburn run.
The Hornets cut the lead to eight at 26-18, but a 16-5 spurt pushed Washburn's lead out to 19 at 42-23 before taking a 53-35 lead into the break. Washburn was 19 of 39 in the first half hitting 7 of 20 3-pointers while holding the Hornets to 9 of 30 shooting. ESU was 13 of 16 from the free throw line compared to 8 of 9 for the Ichabods.
In the second half, the Hornets would get no closer than 10 with under one minute to play as the Ichabods won for the sixth time in the last eight meetings over Emporia State.
Blake led all scorers with 32 points on 12 of 18 shooting adding nine rebounds and four assists. Sevon Witt had 16 points off the bench with seven rebounds. Martin had 12 points and Jalen Lewis had 11 points. Tyler Geiman dished out a nine assists tying a career high.
Washburn was 36 of 64 from the field hitting 11 of 28 from 3-point range. The Ichabods outrebounded the Hornets, who dropped to 6-6 overall and 1-2 in the MIAA. ESU was 23 of 62 overall and hit 14 of 35 from 3-point range going 10 of 20 in the second half. Washburn had 23 assists in the game led by Geiman's nine. Washburn also held a 45 to 31 advantage on the glass turning eight offense rebounds into 12 second change point and they outscored the Hornets 44 to 18 in the paint.
  >  The Ichabods are 1592-1080-2 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 611-282 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 448-91  (.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.
  >  Washburn will continue the homestand hosting Missouri Western on Jan. 9 and Northwest Missouri on Jan. 11.