>The Washburn Ichabods return home for the first time in nearly two weeks as they will play host to Central Oklahoma on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. in Lee Arena.
>Washburn (9-7, 4-3 MIAA) is coming off a 75-72 win over Fort Hays State last time out on Jan. 18 in Hays winning its fifth game in a row over the Tigers.
>The Bronchos are 7-11 this season and 4-5 in the MIAA.
>The Bronchos have lost their last two games falling 58-56 against Northeastern State and 70-65 to Rogers State
>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 14.5 ppg as well as assists (6.3) and minutes (34.9) and he is second in rebounds (5.7).
>Geiman has 112 3-pointers in his Washburn career … he is 12th on the all-time 3-point chart.
>Geiman's 337 career assists are third all-time at Washburn  … next on the list is Shannon Kruger in second who had 341 playing from 1998 to 2002.
> Jalen Lewis is scoring 13.0 ppg while Drew Maschoff is scoring 11.6 ppg and Jonny Clausing is scoring 10.5 ppg.
> Clausing, who is averaging 11.4 ppg in MIAA play, leads the team in rebounds at 7.6 rpg (fourth in the MIAA) … he also leads the team in blocks at 2.1 per game which leads the MIAA and is also 12th in the latest national rankings.
>Keven Biggs is scoring 6.8 ppg off the bench after starting the first 12 games of the season.
>Jace Williams is scoring 5.6 ppg while shooting 71 percent from the field since joining the team after the conclusion of football season playing 10 games this season.
>Rathen Carter is scoring 5.1 ppg with 2.3 rpg and started his first game at Washburn against Fort Hays State scoring eight points hitting a pair of 3-pointers.
>Connor Deffebaugh is scoring 4.1 ppg.
>The Ichabods are currently ninth in the MIAA in field goal percentage at .453 (439 of 969) and they rank 10th in field goal defense at .440 (410 of 931).
>The Ichabods are currently eighth in the MIAA in scoring average at 75.1 ppg and they rank 10th in scoring defense at 70.9 ppg.
>The Ichabods are 13th in free throw percentage in the MIAA shooting .660 (186 of 282).
>Tyler Geiman is first in the MIAA in assists (6.4 apg) and is second in the MIAA in minutes per game at 34.9 and is 11th in scoring while ranking 18th in rebounds.
>The Ichabods have been outscored in conference games in the first half 264 to 249 … in the second half they have outscored their opponents 263 to 260.
  >The Ichabods are within five games of becoming the 10th team in NCAA Division II history to join the 1,600-win club.
Team             Years   W        L    Pct.
Central Wash.        118    1,752    960    .647
McKendree              111    1,719     951   .644
Central Mo.             114    1,716    988   .636
Northern St.            117    1,693    942   .642
William Jewell       121    1,656   1,219 .577
Drury                         111    1,636     921   .639
Fairmont St.            96     1,616    909   .639
Ky. Wesleyan         112    1,607    836   .660
Fort Hays St.          111    1,604    936   .632
Washburn               114    1,595   1,083 .595
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
> is 55-25 in his third season as the Ichabods' head coach and 88-54 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 Central Oklahoma.
 
CENTRAL OKLAHOMA HEAD COACH BOB HOFFMAN
>  is 7-11 in his first season as the Bronchos head coach.
>    comes to UCO from Mercer, where he led the Bears of Macon, Ga. to 209 wins in his 11-year stint there.
>  Hoffman won 209 games at Mercer from 2008-19, including 119 conference games. He led the Bears to its first ever NCAA Tournament win in 2014 – a major upset of Duke in the opening round of March Madness. And he also became the first coach in NCAA history to win a tournament game in all four Division I postseason tournaments in a four-year span.
>  is 0-0 against Washburn.
  WASHBURN (9-7, 4-3 MIAA)
FORT HAYS STATE (7-9, 1-7 MIAA)
JAN. 18, 2020
HAYS, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods held off a furious final 15 seconds as Fort Hays State missed two three-pointers in the final five seconds as the Ichabods held on for a 75-72 win over the Tigers snapping a two-game losing streak while winning their fifth in a row over FHSU on Saturday afternoon in Gross Memorial Coliseum.
With 15 seconds to go, Drew Maschoff hit both free throws turning a 73-72 lead into a three-point lead at 75-72. On the FHSU next possession, the Tigers missed two 3-pointers and the Ichabods held on for the win.
Washburn. (9-7, 4-3 MIAA) led by as many as 11 in the second half, and after a jumper by Maschoff putting the Ichabods up 73-66 with 1:30 to play, the Tigers scored six straight points cutting the lead back to one leading to the two free throw makes by Maschoff.
Propelled by back to back to back 3-pointers by Tyler Geiman, the Ichabods took a 34-26 lead into the locker room. Washburn, who led at one time 14-4 with 13:26 to go found themselves tied at 21 and 24 with under two minutes to play before the Ichabods finished the half on a 10-2 run paced by Geiman's three 3-pointers.
Geiman led the Ichabods with 15 points hitting 5 of 7 shots and 4 of 5 from 3-point rage adding eight assists and five rebounds. Jace Williams had a career-high 14 points hitting 6 of 7 shots and Maschoff finished with 12 points adding five rebounds.
Jared Vitztum had 21 points to lead the Tigers (7-9, 1-7 MIAA) adding 10 rebounds.
Washburn shot 48 percent from the field in the opening half and went 5 of 10 from the free throw line while the Tigers were 9 of 12 from the charity stripe. Overall for the game for the Ichabods were at 53 percent going 27 of 51 from the field after hitting 58 percent in the second half. The Ichabods were 10 of 20 from the free throw line while the Tigers were 16 of 20. The Ichabods finished 11 of 23 from 3-point range while the Tigers were 8 of 22.
Washburn was outrebounded 33 to 23 in the game as the Tigers had 11 offensive rebounds. The Ichabods had 16 fastbreak points compared to three for the Tigers.
  >The Bronchos are 7-11 overall and 4-5 in the MIAA.
>The Bronchos have lost their last two games and three of their last four.
>Dashawn McDowell leads the team in scoring at 12.1 ppg while Camryn Givens is scoring 10.5 ppg with a team-high 6.1 rebounds a game.
>The Bronchos are averaging 69.3 ppg while allowing 69.4 ppg.
  >    Thursday's meeting will be the 31st in the series history.
>    The Bronchos lead the series 16-14 and Washburn has won four of the last five meetings.
>    The Ichabods lost the first match ups as MIAA schools on Jan. 5, 2013 67-72 in Edmond and in the MIAA tournament quarterfinals on March 3, 2013 99-88 in Kansas City.
>    Washburn's two highest-scoring combined games in school history came against UCO. In 1992 the two teams scored 246 points (132-114, UCO) and in 1998 they scored 218 points (111-107, UCO).
>    In the Jan. 13, 2018 meeting, the 49 points was the fewest by the Ichabods in a win in the shot clock era and the 96 combined points were the second fewest scored by Washburn and its opponent in the shot clock era.
>    WU has scored at least 100 points against UCO three times and the Bronchos have done so twice. 
  WASHBURN 88 (19-5, 12-3 MIAA)
CENTRAL OKLAHOMA 69 (10-14, 3-12 MIAA)
FEBRUARY 16, 2019
TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team won its fifth-straight game using a big second half to pull away from Central Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon in Lee Arena in an 88-69 win.
Washburn (19-5, 12-3 MIAA) led the Bronchos 36-33 at the half after the teams had nine ties and eight lead changes in the first 20 minutes as neither team led by more than four points. Washburn shot 52 percent from the field but also turned the ball over 12 times in the opening stanza compared to three for the Bronchos (10-14, 3-12).
Coming out of the break, the Ichabods pulled out to a four-point lead at 41-37 on a 3-pointer by Javion Blake and after a pair of UCO free throws, the Ichabods scored the next seven points of the game with five coming from Tyler Geiman on a lay-up and and 3-pointer with a bucket by Jace Williams in between pushing the lead to 49-39 with 17:11 to go.
UCO came back with four straight points trimming the margin back to five with 16:02 to play, but the Ichaobds responded with a 17-2 run over the next 5:38 and UCO would not get within 14 the rest of the way with 5:36 to go.
Blake led the Ichabods with 20 points in 24 minutes of action on 7 of 12 shooting hitting 3 of 6 3-pointers adding four rebounds and two assists. Geiman had 16 points hitting four 3-pointers with seven rebounds and four assists. David Salach had 12 points with eight rebounds including four offensive boards. Devyn Wilson scored 11 with four assists and Will McKee had seven points, 10 caroms, two assists, two blocks and one steal.
Adarius Avery had 27 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Bronchos.
Washburn shot 65 percent in the second half hitting 20 of 31 attempts shooting a season-best 59 percent from the field on 33 of 56 shooting. Washburn also had 11 3-pointers in 26 attempts and hit 11 of 12 free throws while holding a 36 to 25 advantage on the glass.
Washburn outscored UCO 42 to 22 in the paint in the game and only had four turnovers in the second half
  > The Ichabods are 1595-1082-2 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 614-283 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 continue play in Lee Arena when they will host Newman for the first time as an MIAA opponent on Saturday at 3 p.m.