•The No. 8-ranked Washburn Ichabods wrap up a two-game set on Saturday hosting Pittsburg State at 3 p.m. in Lee Arena.
•The Ichabods (9-1, 9-1 MIAA), slipped from No. 5 to No. 8 in the latest NABC Coaches Poll.
•The Ichabods are also ranked fourth in the D2SIDA poll.
•Washburn tied a school record with 18 3-pointers in its blowout win over Missouri Southern on Thursday in a 99-58 win for the largest win in the series between the two schools.
•The Gorillas (5-5, 5-5 MIAA) are coming off a 75-72 loss at Emporia State on Thursday last time out.
•Saturday's game will be on the only regular season game between the Ichabods and the Gorillas. Pittsburg  State and Lincoln are the two schools in the MIAA schedule they will only place once.
•The Ichabods lead the all-time series with Pittsburg State 106-78 winning the last four games.
•The two games on Feb. 19 and Feb. 20 of 1920 were both played in Topeka inside an empty Thomas Gymnasium because of a flu outbreak in Topeka.
•The Ichabods have won the last 19 of the last 23 meetings including 12 of the last 15 and the last two overall.
•The longest winning streak by the Ichabods is 13 from Jan. 15, 1983 to March 4, 1988.
•The longest winning streak by the Gorillas is six games from Dec. 12, 1936 to Feb. 13, 1943.
•The Ichabods are 32-3 in Lee Arena against PSU and 35-16 against the Gorillas in MIAA play. The home team is 34-12 in the last 46 regular season meetings, dating back to 1996-97.
•The Ichabods lead the MIAA in scoring at 83.0 ppg and the Gorillas are ranked fourth in scoring at 75.6 ppg.
•The Ichabods are ranked fourth in the MIAA in scoring defense allowing 70.4 ppg while the Gorillas are 10th allowing 76.8 ppg.
•The 2020-21 season marks the 116th season of Ichabod basketball.
  •Tyler Geiman leads the team in scoring (19.5 ppg - 3rd in the MIAA), assists (6.3 apg - 1st in the MIAA and is 3rd in the NCAA), rebounds (7.3 rpg - T8th in the MIAA) and steals (1.9 spg - 5th in the MIAA).
•Jonny Clausing is scoring 11.6 ppg with 4.1 rpg and a team-high 1.3 bkpg.
•Jalen Lewis is averaging 12.3 ppg hitting 27 of 46 3-point attempts this season (58.7 percent).
•Drew Maschoff is averaging 10.0 ppg adding 5.5 rpg and 3.4 apg.
•Levi Braun scored a career-high 19 points against Missouri Southern and this season all 21 of his field goals have been from 3-point range (21 of 40 - 53 percent).
•With his five steals against Missouri Southern, Tyler Nelson became the first Ichabod to record at least five in a game since Tyler Geiman did earlier this season on Dec. 5, 2020 against Newman … Nelson is averaging 7.9 ppg this season.
•Since moving into the starting three games ago, Rathen Carter has been averaging 7.8 ppg, 4.3 rpg and has shot 4 of 8 from 3-point range and 11 of 18 overall.
•The Ichabod bench has outscored their opponents bench in eight of 10 games this season … the Washburn bench is averaging 24.9 ppg compared to 17.7 for its opponents bench per game.
•Tyler Geiman became the 26th member of Washburn's 1,000-point club at Missouri Western … his career total is 1,040 in 98 career games, which is 21st all-time on the Ichabod chart … up next is Ichabod athletics Travis Robbins who sits 20th with 1,050 career points.
•Washburn is 46 of 71 from the free throw line in the last five minutes of games (65 percent) compared to its opponents connecting on 53 of 66 attempts (82 percent).
•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. WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
•is 71-32 in his fourth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 104-62 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 4-1 against Pittsburg State.
 
PITTSBURG STATE HEAD COACH KIM ANDERSON
•is in his fourth season leading the Gorillas going 51-49.
•Anderson (Missouri, '79) became the Gorillas' 15th all-time head coach on Apr. 10, 2017, after coaching the previous three seasons at his alma mater – the University of Missouri.
•He has a 352-211 (.626) record in 20 seasons as a collegiate head coach, including the 2014 NCAA Division II National Championship as head coach at the University of Central Missouri as well as two more Division II Final Four appearances (2007, 2009) while compiling a 274-95 (.743) record at the school.
•Anderson led UCM to seven trips to the NCAA Division II National Tournament and seven 20-win seasons.  In his final season with the Mules he guided the squad to a 30-5 overall record and the D2 national title.
•His Mules teams captured six MIAA regular season titles (2005, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014) and four MIAA Tournament titles (2005, 2007, 2009, 2013).
•He was selected the MIAA Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2010, and the NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year in 2014.
•Is 16-16 against the Ichabods.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE ICHABODS
WASHBURN 99 (9-1)
MISSOURI SOUTHERN 58 (4-5)
TOPEKA, Kan. – The No. 8 Washburn Ichabods hit their first 3-pointer of the game and that opened the flood gates as the Ichabods tied a school record with 18 3-pointers in the largest win in 84 all-time meetings with Missouri Southern in a 99-58 victory. The Ichabods return to action on Saturday hosting Pittsburg State starting at 3 p.m.
Tyler Geiman hit the first three of the game 65 seconds into the game on a bank shot as the shot clock expired and after a review it was called good leading the way to the school record from deep. The Ichabods took a 47-33 lead into the break after shooting 59 percent from the field going 17 of 29 from the field as the Ichabods used a 11-0 run over a 2:20 stretch of the first half to turn a 31-27 lead into a 42-27 margin over the Lions who dropped to 4-5 (4-5 MIAA).
In the second half, the Ichabods (9-1, 9-1 MIAA) lifted their shooting percentage to 60 percent hitting 21 of 35 shots from the field with another nine 3-pointers outscoring the Lions 52 to 25 in the second half leading to the 41-point win. The previous largest of margin in a victory over the Lions was 38 set on Feb. 12, 1988 in a 94-56 win in Joplin.
Geiman finished with a game-high 28 points on 12 of 16 shooting with 10 assists recording his second-straight double double and the eighth of his career. Levi Braun recorded a career-high 19 points hitting 6 of 7 3-point attempts going 4 of 4 from deep in the first half. Jalen Lewis had 19 points after going 5 of 5 from 3-point range and Rathen Carter had 15 points with six rebounds. Tyler Nelson had eight points with five steals.
Cam Martin led the Lions with 26 points.
Washburn blitzed the nets in the game shooting 59 percent for the game with equal numbers of nine 3-pointers in each half as the Ichabods snapped a four-game slide to the Lions.
The Ichabods scored 31 points off of 18 Lion turnovers (31 to 5 advantage for the Ichabods) and outscored the Lions with 23 bench points to 15 for Missouri Southern.
  •The Gorillas are 5-5 on the season after falling 75-72 at Emporia State on Thursday.
•The Gorillas were picked seventh in the MIAA Presason Coaches Poll.
•The Gorillas have three players averaging in double figures this season – junior forward Bobby Arthur-Williams Jr. (14.8 ppg) and junior guards Martin Vogts (14.2 ppg) and Quentin Hardrict Jr. (10.2 ppg) – and three players contributing 6.5 or more points per game – senior forward Zach Burch (6.8 ppg) and Antonio Givens II (6.5 ppg) and junior guard Ike Moore (6.8 ppg).
  •Saturday's meeting will be the 185th between these two schools in a series that dates back to the first meeting on Feb. 19, 1920.
•The two games on Feb. 19 and Feb. 20 of 1920 were both played in Topeka inside an empty Thomas Gymnasium because of a flu outbreak in Topeka.
•Washburn leads the all-time series 106-78.
•The Ichabods have won the last 19 of the last 23 meetings including 12 of the last 15 and the last two overall.
•The Ichabods are 32-3 in Lee Arena against PSU and 35-16 against the Gorillas in MIAA play. The home team is 34-12 in the last 46 regular season meetings, dating back to 1996-97.
•The series goes back to 1919-20 and it has been played at least once a year since 1941-42.
•In Topeka, Washburn leads 70-22 all-time.
•The longest winning streak by the Ichabods is 13 from Jan. 15, 1983 to March 4, 1988.
•The longest winning streak by the Gorillas is six games from Dec. 12, 1936 to Feb. 13, 1943.
  Feb. 8, 2020 -- TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods snapped a two-game losing streak as Jonny Clausing hit a free throw seven seconds left and Pittsburg State committed a turnover before getting off a shot as the Ichabods rallied from an eight-point deficit with 6:28 to go in a 76-75 win over the Gorillas on Saturday in Lee Arena. 
After a 3-pointer by Pittsburg State's Ray Elliott with 6:28 left pushing the Gorillas (9-13, 4-8 MIAA) to eight, the Ichabods' Drew Maschoff hit a 3-pointer followed by a free throw by Clausing, two more free throws by Maschoff with 4:34 to go and then a jumper by Rathen Carter with 4:14 to play tying the score at 71.
Pitt State went up by three on its next possession and after a jumper by Maschoff cut the led to one a free throw by the Gorillas put the margin back at two with 2:37 remaining.
A dunk by Clausing with 1:39 to go tied the score at 75 and his free throw with seven seconds helped send the Ichabods to the win. Pittsburg State missed its final four shots from the field as Clausing and Maschoff each scored four points in the final 4:52 to secure the win.
The score was tied at 35 at the half as the Ichabods shot 48 percent from the field hitting 5 of 11 3-pointers. Pittsburg State hit 16 of 28 shots in the second half including 5 of 9 3-pointers to finish at 57 percent in the frame and 50 percent for the game.
The Ichabods (13-9, 8-5 MIAA) had five players in double figures led by Jalen Lewis' 14 points. Tyler Geiman had 13 points with five assists and six rebounds. Connor Deffebaugh scored a career-high 12 points hitting all six of his field goal attempts and Clausing finished with 12 and a team-high seven rebounds. Maschoff scored all 10 of his points in the second half adding six assists.
Pittsburg State's A.J. Walker scored a game-high 22 points with five assists scoring 15 points in the second half.
The Ichabods committed seven turnovers in the game while the Gorillas had nine.
  • The Ichabods are 1611-1091-2 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 629-288 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 459-94 (.848) all-time in Lee Arena.
• The 2020-21 season marks the 37th season of play in Lee Arena.
• The Ichabods are 36-1 all-time in home openers.
• The Ichabods recorded a school-best 28-game winning streak from Nov. 19, 1993 to Feb. 8, 1995 in Lee Arena.
  •Washburn returns to the road for three games starting with Emporia State on Jan. 23 and Newman on Jan. 28 wrapping up the trip with Central Oklahoma on Jan. 30.