•After a 2-0 opening weekend on Nov. 19 and Nov. 21 with road wins at Fort Hays State and Nebraska-Kearney, the Washburn Ichabods will make their home debut on Nov. 30 hosting Central Oklahoma at 6 p.m. in Lee Arena starting at busy week with three games over the next six days.
•After the game with the Bronchos on Nov. 30, the Ichabods will have an exhibition game at Kansas on Dec. 3 and then return to MIAA play with Newman on Dec. 5.
•The Ichabods are coming off a 73-62 win over Nebraska-Kearney last time out on Nov. 21.
•Central Oklahoma enters the game 0-2 with a 75-74 home loss to Missouri Southern and a 77-66 loss to Pittsburg State on Nov. 21.
•The Bronchos lead the all-time series with the Ichabods 16-15 with Washburn winning the last two overall and five of the last six.
•The 2020-21 season marks the 116th season of Ichabod basketball.
  •Drew Maschoff leads the Ichabods in scoring averaging 18.0 ppg with a team-high 5.5 rpg.
•Tyler Geiman is scoring 16.5 ppg adding 8.5 apg (which leads the MIAA) and 5.0 rpg.
•Jonny Clausing is coming off a career-high 25 points against UNK averaging 15.5 ppg with 5.0 rpg.
•Jalen Lewis rounds out the Ichabod double figure scorers at 11.0 ppg  hitting 6 of 9 3-point attempts this season.
•The 2020-21 Washburn Ichabod basketball season will be one for the record books as the 22-game schedule will consist of only games against MIAA opponents as regional crossovers and non-conference matchups have been scrapped thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
•From a 16-13 team last season, Washburn returns four starters and 91 percent of its scoring, 86 percent of its rebounding, 94 percent of assists and 89 percent of minutes played a year ago while adding a returner from the 2018-19 season who returns from an injury. •The Ichabods return high percentages in all major categories for the 2020-21 season.
Percentage of Scoring ________________ 91.1 (1956/2147)
Percentage of Rebounds _______________ 86.0 (892/1037)
Percentage of Field Goals _____________ 90.8 (1542/1699)
Percentage of 3-Point FGs ______________ 88.6 (233/263)
Percentage of Free Throws ______________ 88.7 (309/348)
Percentage of Assists ___________________ 94.1 (398/423)
Percentage of Steals ____________________ 87.7 (150/171)
Percentage of Blocks _____________________ 89.4 (84/94)
Percentage of Minutes _______________ 89.1 (5191/5825)
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
• is 64-31 in his fourth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 97-61 overall in his seventh 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 3-2 against Central Oklahoma.
 
CENTRAL OKLAHOMA HEAD COACH BOB HOFFMAN
•is 11-20 in his second 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 0-1 against Washburn.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE ICHABODS
WASHBURN 73 (2-0)
NEBRASKA-KEARNEY 62 (0-2)
NOVEMBER 21, 2020 - KEARNEY, Neb. – The Washburn Ichabods used a big first half run and pressure defense forcing 19 Nebraska-Kearney turnovers improving to 2-0 in a 73-62 win over the Lopers.
After trailing 10-9 with 11:01 to play in the first half the Ichabods (2-0, 2-0 MIAA) ripped off a 27-8 run to finish the half getting defensive holding the Lopers to 3 of 14 shooting including 1 of 7 from 3-point range. In the middle of the big run was a 16-0 spurt by Washburn as they shot 10 of 19 from the field and 4 of 7 from 3-point range after falling behind by one.
In the second half the Lopers (0-2, 0-2 MIAA) cut the lead to 11 at 51-40 with 9:43 to go in the game outscored UNK 14-6 over the next 4:38 pushing the lead back to 16 capped by a dunk by Jonny Clausing.
Clausing led all scorers with a game-high 25 points going 10 of 14 from the field adding five rebounds. Tyler Geiman had 13 points with eight assists, five rebounds and two steals. Drew Maschoff scored 16 points and Connor Deffebaugh had a career-high eight rebounds scoring three.
Darren Nebeker led the Lopers with 17 points.
Washburn scored 50 of their 75 points in the paint while the Lopers scored 22. Washburn finished 29 of 62 from the field for a 47 percent clip holding the Lopers to 20 of 53 from the field. The Lopers were 8 of 31 from 3-point range while the Ichabods connected on 4 of 17.
  •The Bronchos are 0-2 this season after falling 75-74 to Missouri Southern and 77-66 to Pittsburg State in a pair of home losses.
•Central Oklahoma returns 10 players from last year's squad, including three players that started at least 19 of the team's 29 games. Camryn Givens, Justin Nimmer, and Seth Hurd all started a majority of Central's contests last season.
•Camryn Givens leads the team in scoring at 16.0 ppg while Justin Nimmer is scoring 13.0 ppg. Givens is also adding nine rebounds a game while Nimmer has eight a game. •Monday's meeting will be the 32nd in the series history.
•The Bronchos lead the series 16-15 and Washburn has won five of the last six 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.    
  Jan. 23, 2020 -- TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods held Central Oklahoma to a season-low 51 points and allowed seven field goals in the second half as Washburn picked up a 65-51 win in Lee Arena.
Washburn (10-7, 5-3 MIAA) led for nearly the entire game after jumping out to a 7-0 lead hitting its first three shots from the field while UCO came back and tied it at 7-7, Washburn pushed out to a 14-9 lead before six straight points from the Bronchos (7-12, 4-6 MIAA) put them in front of the Ichabods at 15-14. However, the 16 second lead was short-lived as Keven Biggs hit a three on Washburn's next possession and Jace Williams scored on a layup stretching the lead out to four. UCO cut the lead to one at 19-18 with 5:22 to play in the first half but did not get any closer the rest of the game as Washburn took a 28-23 lead into the break.
With Washburn leading 35-32 with 14:01 to play in the game, Tyler Geiman connected on back-to-back 3-pointers as Washburn went up 41-32 as the Ichabods would go on to lead by as many as 19 in the second half rolling to the 14-point win picking up their second win in a row over the Bronchos and the fourth in a row in Topeka.
Jalen Lewis led the Ichabods with 14 points hitting three 3-pointers and Tyler Geiman finished with 13 points hitting three from deep as well. Williams scored nine points while Jonny Clausing, Drew Maschoff and Keven Biggs each head eight. Maschoff added a career-high seven assists in the game.
Cam Givens led the Bronchos with 17 points.
Washburn was 25 of 47 for the game (53 percent) hitting 14 of 23 in the second half at a 61 percent clip. UCO finished 17 of 50 and was 3 of 21 from 3-point range. Washburn was 9 of 24 overall from deep.
The Bronchos held a 32 to 23 advantage on the glass turning 13 offensive rebounds into nine second chance points. Washburn forced 20 turnovers in the game leading to 18 Ichabod points in the win and outran the Bronchos 16 to 0 in fast break points.
  • The Ichabods are 1604-1090-2 all-time in the 116th 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 622-287 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 455-94 (.848) all-time in Lee Arena.
• The 2020-21 season marks the 37th 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 return to action on Thursday with an exhibition game at Kansas on Dec. 3 and then will jump back into MIAA play against Newman on Dec. 5.