> The Washburn Ichabods will wrap up the regular season on Saturday at Missouri Western with a 3:30 p.m. start time for the MWSU Fieldhouse.
> The Ichabods (16-11, 11-7 MIAA) are coming off a 69-61 loss to No. 1 Northwest Missouri on Thursday night in Maryville.
> The Griffons fell 92-69 to Northwest Missouri Bearcats on Tuesday in St. Joseph.
> The Ichabods topped Missouri Western 86-76 on Jan. 9 earlier this season in Topeka.
> The Ichabods are 2-0 on Leap Day in program history.
> The Ichabods have clinched a spot in the MIAA Tournament and currently sit fifth in the MIAA standings with Saturday's game remaining in the regular season. Missouri Western is one game ahead of the Ichabods at 12-6 in the conference standings. An Ichabod win over the Griffons on Saturday would mean the teams would play again in the opening round of the MIAA Tournament with the Ichabods being the four seed and the Griffons gaining the fifth seed. The top 10 teams in the final standings will be in Kansas City March 4-8 for the postseason event.
> 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 15.1 ppg as well as assists (5.6) and minutes (35.2) and he is second in rebounds (5.8).
> Geiman has 145 3-pointers in his Washburn career … he is 11th on the all-time 3-point chart.
> Geiman's 389 career assists at Washburn and is second all-time on the Ichabod chart … the Ichabod all-time leader is Jordan Canfield (1992-97) who had 756, which is second on the MIAA career chart.
>  Jalen Lewis is scoring 12.8 ppg while Drew Maschoff is scoring 10.8 ppg and Jonny Clausing is scoring 9.9 ppg.
>  Clausing leads the team in rebounds at 7.1 rpg (fourth in the MIAA) … he also leads the team in blocks at 1.6 per game which leads the MIAA and is also 20th in the latest national rankings and his total blocks is 18th overall nationwide.
> Keven Biggs is scoring 6.0 ppg off the bench after starting the first 12 games of the season.
> Rathen Carter is scoring 5.7 ppg with 2.2 rpg … he scored a career-high 18 points against Central Missouri in the first meeting.
> Tyler Nelson is scoring 5.4 ppg coming off a career-high 16 points against Central Missouri and Jace Williams is scoring 4.7 and Connor Deffebaugh is scoring 4.4
> The Ichabods are currently ninth in the MIAA in field goal percentage at .455 and they rank eighth in field goal defense at .443.
> The Ichabods are currently sixth in the MIAA in scoring average at 74.5 ppg and they rank seventh in scoring defense at 70.0 ppg.
> The Ichabods are 13th in free throw percentage in the MIAA shooting 67 percent.
> During the last five minutes of games however the Ichabods are shooting 78 percent from the free throw line as a team hitting 115 of 147 attempts … Jalen Lewis is 41 of 45 (91 percent) in the last five minutes of games this season and 51 of 56 (91 percent) for his Washburn career.
> Tyler Geiman is third in the MIAA in assists (5.6 apg) and is third in the MIAA in minutes per game at 35.2 and is 12th in scoring while ranking 10th in rebounds, ninth in field goal percentage, fourth in 3-point field goal percentage, 16th in free throw percentage, 18th in steals and seventh in 3-pointers made per game.
  >  Tyler Geiman's 67 3-pointers made is 10th.
>  Jalen Lewis' 64 3-pointers made is 14th
>  Tyler Geiman's 167 3-point attempts 10th
>  Jalen Lewis' 163 3-point attempts 13th
>  Jalen Lewis' .855 (65-76) free throw percentage is 7th
>  Tyler Geiman's .409 3-point percentage is 24th
>  Tyler Geiman's 152 assists is 5th
>  Tyler Geiman's 5.6 assist average is 3rd
>  Jonny Clausing's 44 blocks is 7th
>  Jonny Clausing's 1.6 blocks per game average is 6th
>  Tyler Geiman's 950 minutes played is 14th
>  Tyler Geiman's 35.2 minutes per game is 3rd
>  Jalen Lewis' 31.5 minutes per game is 22nd
>  The Ichabods' 249 3-pointers made is 4th (293 is the record set in 2018-19)
>  The Ichabods' 675 3-point attempts is 3rd (752 is the record set in 2018-19)
>  The Ichabods' .369 3-point percentage is 18th
>  The Ichabods' 88 blocked shots is 16th >  Only two Ichabods in program history have averaged at least 15.0 points, 5.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds in a season.
Player                              Year          PPG   RPG   APG
Tyler Geiman                      2019-20     15.1     5.8      5.6
De'Andre Washington         2010-11     16.0     6.4      5.1
  >  Brett Ballard has 62 wins in his first three seasons as the Ichabod head coach … he needs one win to tie and two to pass former Ichabod head coach Bob Chipman who had 63 wins in his first three seasons on the Washburn bench. Glenn Cafer recorded 52 wins in his first three seasons at Washburn.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
>  is 62-29 in his third season as the Ichabods' head coach and 95-59 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 Missouri Western.
 
MISSOURI WESTERN HEAD COACH SUNDANCE WICKS
>   is 28-30 in his second season as the Griffons' head coach.
>   in 2017-18, Wicks helped lead Northern State to the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular season and postseason championships this year. Northern State also claimed the central region championship en route to the program's first-ever appearance in the national championship game.
>   lettered four years as a student-athlete at Northern State from 1999-2003, Wicks
>   held assistant coaching positions at Northern State, Colorado (2006-07), Northern Illinois (2007-11) and San Francisco (2015-16).
>   is 0-3 against Washburn.
  #1 NORTHWEST MISSOURI 69 (28-1, 18-1 MIAA)
WASHBURN 61 (16-11, 11-7 MIAA)
FEB. 27, 2020
MARYVILLE, Mo. – The Washburn Ichabods came up short as the No. 1-ranked Northwest Missouri Bearcats outscored the Ichabods 12-2 over the final 3:30 of the game to pick up a 69-61 win on Thursday night in Bearcat Arena.
The Ichabods led 35-26 at the half after hitting 54 percent of their shots compared to the Bearcats hitting 9 of 28 shots for a 32-pecent clip as six of their nine field goals were from deep. The Ichabods trailed by seven at 13-6 but the Bearcats finished the last seven minutes of the frame on an 18-5 run as Washburn hit 7 of 9 shots and all three 3-point attempts taking the nine-point lead into the break.
Starting the second half, the top-ranked Bearcats used an 11-5 run cutting Washburn's lead to three at 40-37 with 14:31 to play after trading baskets over the next five minutes the Bearcats would take the lead at 50-49 after a 3-pointer by Ryan Hawkins, who finished with a game high 24 points.
In a see-saw battle, the Ichabods came back to take the lead at 57-55 with 6:09 to play on Drew Maschoff's first points of the game on a 3-pointer, but Northwest scored on its next possession tying the score at 57 with 5:36 to go.
Following the media timeout at 4:45 left in the game, neither team would score until Maschoff hit a pair of free throws with 3:42 to play putting the Ichabods up 59-57. An Ichabod foul sent the Bearcats back to the line where they hit both free throws tying the score again at 59 with 3:30 left.
A turnover on Washburn's next possession led to a traditional 3-point play by the Bearcats to go up 62-59 with 2:55 to play. The Ichabods came up empty and went down five at 64-59 with 2:18 to play. A jumper by Maschoff pulled Washburn down three at 64-51 with 53 seconds to play as the Ichabods called a timeout. However, the Ichabods would be outscored the final 12 to 2 the final 3:42 of the game as the Bearcats
Geiman led the Ichabods with 13 points and Jalen Lewis score 12. Keven Biggs scored nine points with a team-high eight rebounds.
The Ichabods held the Bearcats to their second-lowest shooting performance of the season at 40 percent hitting 22 of 55 going 11 of 31 from deep. Washburn was 7 of 26 in the second half from the field hitting 3 of 12 3-point attempts.
The Ichabods held a 35-33 advantage on the glass.
  > The Griffons are 16-13 this season and 12-6 in conference play after falling to Northwest Missouri on Thuesday.
> Missouri Western is 11-1 in home games and 1-3 in games played at the Civic Arena in St. Joseph.
> Tyrell Carroll leads the Griffons in scoring at 17.4 ppg and in assists at 5.8 per game … in MIAA play is he averaging 17.6 ppg and 5.4 apg.
> Will Eames is the leading rebounder at 7.3 per game adding 11.1 ppg … he has missed the last two games with an injury.
> Tyus Millhollin is scoring 15.1 ppg hitting a team-high 86 of 228 3-point attempts and averaging 15.9 ppg in MIAA play.
  >    Saturday's meeting will be the 94th between the two schools with Washburn leading the series 56-37 winning the last five games overall.
>    The Ichabods are 32-21 against MWSU in MIAA games and 25-11 in Lee Arena and 32-13 in games played in Topeka overall.
>    The Ichabods are 22-23 in games played in St. Joseph against the Griffons.
>    Since joining the MIAA, the Ichabods are 11-18 in MIAA games played in St. Joseph.
>    In the MIAA Tournament the Ichabods are 3-5 against the Griffons.
>    The Ichabods lead 6-4 in overtime games including the 95-94 win on Jan. 9, 2019.
  WASHBURN 86 (8-5)
MISSOURI WESTERN 76 (7-9)
Jan. 9, 2020
TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods used a balance scoring attack putting five players in double figures as the Ichabods won their fourth-straight game over Missouri Western on Thursday night in Lee Arena in an 86-76 win.
The first half was a back and forth affair as there were six lead changes and seven ties as the Ichabods took a 10-point margin into the locker room after hitting 16 of 32 shots going 9 of 10 from the free throw line. Missouri Western took an early seven-point lead with 12:37 to play in the frame before Drew Maschoff scored 12 points the rest of the half pushing Washburn to a 46-36 lead at the break. Maschoff finished with 17 points in the half en route to a game-high-tying 23 points.
In the second half with the Ichabods holding a 58-53 lead with 13:22 to play, Missouri Western ripped off a 10-0 taking a 60-58 lead, but it was short-lived as Jalen Lewis hit his first 3-pointer of the night, but the Griffons (7-9, 3-2 MIAA) went back in front on a 3-point play by Tyrell Carroll who also scored 23 points for Missouri Western.
From that point, a 15-2 run by the Ichabods over the next 4:39 stretched the lead to 11 with 4:44 to go. However Western scored seven-straight to cut the lead to four at 76-72 with 1:21 to play. Washburn then hit all eight free throw attempts in the final 39 seconds sealing the win.
Behind Maschoff's 23 points, Johnny Clausing scored a career-high 19 points recording his fourth double double at Washburn adding 11 rebounds and five blocks. Tyler Geiman scored 14 points with seven rebounds and seven assists while Jalen Lewis and Rathen Carter each scored 10. The 10 points was a Washburn high for Carter.
The Ichabods held a 49 to 36 advantage on the glass and finished the game 27 of 58 from the field for a 47 percent average hitting 6 of 20 3-pointers going 26 of 32 from the free throw line. The Griffons were 30 of 73 overall from the field hitting 11 of 36 shots going 5 of 12 from the charity stripe.
  >  The Ichabods are 1601-1087-2 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 620-287 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 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 MIAA Championship Tournament on March 4 in Kansas City. Tournament seeds will be announced on Saturday night by the conference office.