•The Washburn Ichabods finish off the 2021 calendar with a New Year's Eve visit to Warrensburg, Mo. to take on the Central Missouri Mules in a game that was moved up one day because of the Jan. 1, 2022 weather forecast.
•The Ichabods (6-6, 3-3 MIAA) fell last time out on Dec. 20 in an 85-82 loss to Northeastern State snapping the Ichabods' eight-game winning streak over the Riverhawks.
•The Mules are (6-3, 3-2 MIAA) have won their last two games topping Missouri Southern 87-57 on Dec. 16 and Pittsburg State on Dec. 18 66-58 in a pair of road wins.
•The Ichabods lead the all-time series with the Mules 54-52 and have won the last three overall including the last meeting on Feb. 13, 2021 in Warrensburg in a 70-68 win.
•The 2021-22 season marks the 117th season of Ichabod basketball.
•Washburn was picked second both the MIAA Coaches and Media preseason polls. •Jalen Lewis leads the team in scoring at 14.3 ppg hitting 25 of 66 3-pointers and played his 100th career game at Washburn against Northeastern State.
•Michael Keegan is scoring 11.2 ppg with team-highs of 6.3 rebounds per game, 1.1 blocks per game and 1.4 steals per game.
•Tyler Geiman is averaging 10.4 ppg with 4.4 rpg and 6.4 apg in five games this season.
•Connor Deffebaugh is scoring 9.2 ppg with 2.3 rpg and has raised his scoring to 10.0 ppg in conference play.
•Jeremy Harrell is fifth on the team in scoring at 8.8 ppg in 17.0 minutes per game.
•Levi Braun scoring 7.7 ppg and 9.8 ppg in MIAA play and has hit 16 of 32 3-point field goals in conference play.
•Tyler Geiman became the 26th member of Washburn's 1,000-point club at Missouri Western last season and returned to the line up at Central Oklahoma … his career point total is 1,444 in 120 career games, which is ninth all-time on the Ichabod chart … next on the chart is Dan Buie who scored 1,484 in two seasons from 1995-97 … Geiman's 210 career 3-pointers is fifth all-time at Washburn.
•Jalen Lewis is currently 16th on the Ichabod all-time scoring chart with 1,188 career points in 100 career games … Lewis also became only the sixth Ichabod to go over the 200 made 3-pointers mark now sitting with 222 which ranks second behind all-time leader Shannon Kruger who hit 242 in 122 games.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
•is 88-44 in his fifth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 121-74 overall in his eighth year as a head coach.
•has led the Ichabods to three NCAA postseason appearances in four full 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 5-2 against Central Missouri.
 
CENTRAL MISSOURI HEAD COACH DOUG KARLESKINT
•is 115-91 in his eighth season as the head coach at Central Missouri and 203-114 overall in his 12th season as a head coach.
•spent five seasons at Arkansas Tech, including the last four as head coach.
•he compiled a 90-34 (.726) record with the Wonder Boys with four conference championships and four trips to the NCAA-II National Tournament, including a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2012.
•is 4-7 against Washburn.
  •The Mules are 6-3 overall and 3-2 in the MIAA and have won their last two including an 87-57 win at Missouri Southern on Dec. 16 and at Pittsburg State on Dec. 18 in a 66-58 win.
•Gavin Pinkley leads the team in scoring at 12.8 ppg and Ja'Cor Nelson is scoring 10.9 ppg adding a team-high 6.9 rebounds per game.
•The Mules are averaging 68.4 ppg while allowing 61.3 ppg. (Dec. 20, 2021) TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabod basketball team fell in its calendar year finale in an 85-82 loss to Northeastern State on Monday afternoon in Lee Arena.
The Ichabods (6-6, 3-3 MIAA) held a 51-50 lead with 10:32 to go in the game before the RiverHawks would outscore Washburn 22 to 12 over a 4:41 stretch of the second half building a nine-point lead at 72-63 with 5:33 to go in the game.
Washburn trimmed the lead back to five with 5:05 to go and eventually down to four at 76-72 with 2:28 remaining after a Jeremy Harrell jumper, but a 3-pointer on the RiverHawks' (7-4, 2-3 MIAA) possession pushed the margin back to seven with 2:15 left.
Again the Ichabods came back after a 3-pointer by Levi Braun and a layup by Tyler Geiman cut the lead to three with 38 seconds left at 82-79 but the Ichabods would not get any closer than three on three different occasions in the 3-point loss snapping an eight-game winning streak over Northeastern State.
The Ichabods led 37-32 at the half on the heels of hitting 7 of 15 3-pointers leading by as many as 11 midway through the opening half.
Geiman led the Ichabods with 22 points and 10 assists recording his 10th double double of his Ichabod career playing all 40 minutes. He finished 9 of 13 from the free throw line. Braun scored 17 points and Harrell had 13 points.
Christian Cook had 26 points to lead all scorers.
Washburn finished the game 25 of 60 from the field shooting 42 percent for the game and Northeastern State finished at 51 percent hitting 26 of 51 shots including a 57 percent clip in the second half after hitting 12 of 21 shots. In the first half the RiverHawks hit 1 of 4 free throws before going 26 of 30 in the second half from the free throw line. Washburn was 20 of 28 for the game from the free throw line.
  •Saturday's meeting will be the 107th between these two teams
•The Ichabods lead the series 54-52 winning the last three games.
•Washburn is 24-9 against UCM in Lee Arena and 30-25 in all-time MIAA games … in games played in Warrensburg the Ichabods are 16-30.
•The Ichabods have won 12 of the last 18 meetings.
•The last time the teams met in the conference tournament was during the 2010 season when the Ichabods as the No. 8 seed topped the No. 1-seeded Mules 79-60.
•The Ichabods are 5-1 all-time against Central Missouri in the MIAA Tournament. (Feb. 13, 2021) WARRENSBURG, Mo. – The No. 16 ranked Washburn Ichabods rallied back from a 11-point deficit at the half to defeat the Central Missouri Mules, 70-68, on Saturday afternoon.
The Mules (6-12) opened the game on a 7-0 run in the first two and half minutes. The Ichabods (14-3) answered as they went on a 6-0 run in the next minute to cut their deficit to only one. Washburn battled through the half, getting as close as a one-point deficit on two separate occasions, but Central Missouri held on to its lead to end the first half up 39-28.
The Ichabods gained their first lead of the game in the midst of a 9-0 run as Tyler Nelson hit a three-pointer with 8:20 left on the clock to put Washburn up 53-52. This play ensued a back-and-forth battle that included three lead changes and three tied scores that would go on until the last few seconds of the game. The Ichabods' largest lead stretched to five points with 5:32 left on the clock after two made free throws by Tyler Geiman.
Down by two with 41 seconds left on the clock, Geiman made a layup to tie the score at 68. The Mules attempted to regain the lead but missed the three-point attempt, giving the ball back to the Ichabods. With only two seconds left on the clock, Jace Williams sank the game-winning layup to lead Washburn to the 70-68 victory over Central Missouri.
Tyler Geiman led the Ichabods with 23 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Two more Ichabods scored double digits in points – Jalen Lewis (16) and Levi Braun (13). Williams recorded five rebounds, including three on the offensive side.
Cameron Hunter led the Mules with 21 points, while also notching four rebounds. Koray Gilbert had a team-high nine rebounds. The team shot 81 percent from the free-throw line.
The Ichabods scored 18 points off the Mules turnovers, while Central Missouri countered with 10 points off Washburn turnovers. Washburn outscored Central Missouri in the second half by 42-29. The Ichabods had 14 bench points on the night while the Mules countered with 12 points from the bench.
  •The Ichabods are 1627-1103-2 all-time in the 117th 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 645-300 since joining the conference and the NCAA.
•The Ichabods have recorded 29 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 15 NCAA Tournament bids going to three Elite Eight's appearing in the 2001 NCAA National Championship game.
  • The Ichabods are 469-98 (.848) all-time in Lee Arena.
• The 2021-22 season marks the 38th season of play in Lee Arena.
• The Ichabods are 37-1 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 will return home to face Northwest Missouri on Jan. 6 and Missouri Western on Jan. 8.