• The Washburn Ichabods will hit the road for the first time in MIAA play as they will travel to Edmond, Okla. for a Thursday contest with Central Oklahoma.
• The Ichabods (4-4, 1-1 MIAA) topped Nebraska-Kearney 79-77 last time out on Saturday in Lee Arena.
• The Bronchos (5-2, 1-1 MIAA) are coming off a 79-60 win over Pittsburg State on the road. UCO's conference loss came in a 77-75 defeat at Missouri Southern.
• The Ichabods trail the all-time series with the Bronchos 17-16 after UCO won the last meeting on Jan. 30, 2021 in Edmond snapping a three-game winning streak by the Ichabods.
• 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 13.3 ppg hitting 14 of 42 3-pointers.
• Michael Keegan is scoring 12.4 ppg with team-highs of 5.0 rebounds per game, 1.2 blocks per game and 1.2 steals per game.
• Connor Deffebaugh is scoring 9.8 ppg with 3.1 rpg and a team-high 2.1 assists per game.
• Jeremy Harrell is fourth on the team in scoring at 8.5 ppg in 17.1 minutes per game.
• Through eight games this season the Ichabods have used five different starting line ups … only Michael Keegan and Jalen Lewis have started all of the games so far this season.
• Tyler Geiman became the 26th member of Washburn's 1,000-point club at Missouri Western last season … his career total is 1,394 in 116 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 has played only two minutes this season (in the first game of the year) due to an injury.
• Jalen Lewis is currently 17th on the Ichabod all-time scoring chart with 1,122 career points in 96 career games … Lewis also became only the sixth Ichabod to go over the 200 made 3-pointers mark now sitting with 211 which ranks fourth trailing Javion Blake's (122 games) and Todd Alexander's (93 games) 212 career 3-pointers and all-time leader Shannon Kruger who hit 242 in 122 games.
• Michael Keegan had a career-high 18 points against Nebraska-Kearney and has averaged 3.3 blocks and 7.3 rebounds per game in the last three contests.
• Connor Deffebaugh had a career-high 19 points against the Lopers last time out and tied a career-high five assists.
• Saturday's game against Nebraska-Kearney marked the first time in head coach Brett Ballard's tenure that both teams had shot exactly 50 percent from the field in a game … WU was 30 of 60 and UNK was 31 of 62 from the field.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
• is 86-42 in his fifth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 119-72 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 4-3 against Central Oklahoma.
 
CENTRAL OKLAHOMA HEAD COACH BOB HOFFMAN
• is 29-30 in his third 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 1-2 against Washburn.
  • UCO is 5-2 this season and 1-1 in the MIAA after topping Pittsburg State 79-60 last time out on Dec. 4.
• Isaiah Wade leads four players in double figures averaging 18.0 ppg with 7.0 rpg.
• Camryn Givens is scoring 15.3 ppg with 6.4 rpg. Jaden Wells is scoing 12.3 ppg and Callen Haydon is scoring 12.1 ppg.
• Nebeker leads the team in rebounds at 6.0 per game. (Dec. 1, 2021) TOPEKA, Kan. – Washburn's Connor Deffebaugh driving layup with two seconds left in the game propelled the Ichabods to a 79-77 win over Nebraska-Kearney Saturday in Lee Arena. The Ichabods will be on the road on Dec. 9 at Central Oklahoma and then face Newman on Dec. 11 in Wichita.
Deffebaugh's drive broke a 77-77 tie after UNK's David Simental hit a fall-away 3-pointer from the corner to tie the score with 28 seconds to play. Overall the game had 19 lead changes with 11 coming in the second half. Washburn (4-4, 1-1 MIAA) held a six-point lead with 1:50 to go after a pair of free throws by Michael Keegan, but back to back threes tied the score.
The Lopers (3-3, 0-2 MIAA) led by two at the break and led by six twice in the second half with the final time coming at 42-36. With the Lopers leading 46-42, the Ichabods ripped off a 13-4 going up 55-50 with 13:07 left.
UNK took the lead back with 6:33 to play after a 3-pointer by Austin Lugar going up 64-62, but a bucket from Kevaughn Ellis with a foul for the 3-point play put the Ichabods back up one at 65-64. A 3-pointer by Jeremy Harrell gave the Ichabods the lead again after UNK went up by one.
With 2:52 to play and the Ichabods down one, Levi Braun hit his second 3-pointer of the day kickstarting a 7-0 run including four-straight points by Keegan as Washburn led 77-71 before the back to back 3-pointers by UNK setting up Deffebaugh's finish for the win.
Deffebaugh recorded a career-high with 19 points and Keegan had a career-highs of his own with 18 points and eight rebounds adding three assists and two blocks. Also in double figures were Ellis with 11 points and Harrell with 10.
Simental scored a game-high 21 for the Lopers and Darrian Nebeker had 20.
Washburn shot 50 percent for the game hitting 30 of 60 shots and UNK shot 50 percent as well going 31 of 62 from the field. UNK had nine 3-pointers compared to Washburn's seven, but the Ichabods were 12 of 14 from the free throw line compared to 6 of 8 for the Lopers.
  • Saturday's meeting will be the 34th in the series history.
• UCO leads the series 17-16.
• The Ichabods lost the first match up as MIAA schools on Jan. 5, 2013  in a 72-67 loss in Edmond and in the MIAA tournament quarterfinals on March 3, 2013 in a 99-88 defeat 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.
• In 32 games, the Ichabods have averaged 76.4 points per game with the Bronchos.
• WU has scored at least 100 points against UCO three times and the Bronchos have done so twice.    (Jan. 30, 2021) EDMOND, Okla. – The No. 13 Washburn Ichabods men's basketball team fell to the Central Oklahoma Bronchos, 74-72, on Saturday afternoon on the road.
Washburn opened scoring with two made layups to put the team up 4-0 within the first two minutes of the game. Central Oklahoma gained their first lead by going on a 6-0 run within the following few minutes to put the Bronchos up 6-4 with 15:48 on the clock. For the rest of the first half, the Ichabods and Bronchos went on a back-and-forth battle in which the lead changed 11 times and the score tied seven times. Central Oklahoma went on an 8-0 run in the last minute and 37 seconds of the first half to end the half with a 39-34 lead over Washburn.
The Ichabods played the second half with conviction, outscoring the Bronchos 38-35 in the second portion of the game. Washburn got within a two-point deficit three different times throughout the half. With 39 seconds left on the clock, Levi Braun hit a three-point shot to tie the game at 72, giving the Ichabods their closest shot at an end of the game comeback. After a missed three-pointer and an offensive rebound, the Bronchos made a layup with two seconds left as Washburn fell to Central Oklahoma, 74-72.
Tyler Geiman set scored a career-high 32 points, while also leading the team in assists (six), rebounds (seven) and steals (three). Braun had 15 points, all from the three-point range. Rathen Carter and Jace Williams each contributed seven points. Williams also had a team-high two blocks and tied for the team-high in steals (three) with Geiman.
Isaiah Wade paced the Bronchos with 21 points and 18 rebounds. Callen Haydon recorded 14 points and led Central Oklahoma with seven assists.
The Ichabods went 11-14 from the charity stripe for a 78.6 free-throw percentage in the game. The team made all eight free throw attempts in the second half. Washburn scored 18 points off Central Oklahoma turnovers, while the Bronchos countered with 15 points off the Ichabods' turnovers.
  • The Ichabods are 1625-1101-2 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 643-298 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 468-97 (.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.
  • The Ichabods continue the road trip Dec. 11 at Newman before returning home to host Rogers State on Dec. 18 and then finish off the first semester of action with Northeastern State on Dec. 20 in a rare 2 p.m. Monday afternoon start.