•The No. 25 (NABC)/No. 19 (D2SIDA) Washburn Ichabods will play their final regular season road game on Thursday at Missouri Southern. The Lions sit in third in the MIAA standings three games behind the Ichabods who are in second.
•Washburn will then wrap up the regular season with Emporia State on Feb. 27 in Lee Arena.
•Saturday's game with Emporia State will be the Ichabods' fifth in the last 10 days dating back to the Missouri Western game on Feb. 18.
•The Ichabods (15-5, 15-5 MIAA) topped Northeastern State on Tuesday night in a COVID-related makeup game from earlier this season in an 88-73 win in Lee Arena.
•The Lions are 12-8 this season and have won four of their last five and seven of their last nine coming off a 93-74 win over Pittsburg State on Feb. 20.
•The Ichabods won the first meeting of the season on Jan. 9 when the Ichabods topped Missouri Southern 99-58 in Topeka, in what was the largest victory margin in series history.
•The Ichabods lead the all-time series 49-35 and have gone 18-20 in games played in Joplin.
•The Ichabods (82.5 ppg) and the Lions (81.4) are the top two scoring teams in the MIAA. Washburn is fourth in scoring defense at 73.0 ppg while the Lions are 13th allowing 79.5 ppg.
•The Ichabods are ranked second in the league in opponents field goal percentage at 43 percent while the Lions rank third in field goal percentage at 47 percent.
•The 2020-21 season marks the 116th season of Ichabod basketball.
  •Tyler Geiman leads the team in scoring (20.8 ppg - 3rd in the MIAA), assists (6.3 apg - 1st in the MIAA and is 3rd in the NCAA), rebounds (6.5 rpg - 10th in the MIAA), steals (1.7 spg - 4th in the MIAA) and minutes (36.3 mpg - 2nd in the MIAA) … he also ranks fifth in the MIAA in field goal percentage (.534).
•Jalen Lewis is averaging 12.5 ppg hitting 49 of 100 3-point attempts this season (49 percent) … he is tied for fourth in the MIAA in 3-pointers per game at 2.5.
•Jonny Clausing returned to action at Central Missouri after missing the previous seven games with an injury …he is scoring 9.9 ppg with 4.1 rpg and 1.0 bkpg.
•Tyler Nelson is scoring 10.8 ppg averaging 12.5 points a game in the last 11 since moving into a starting role reaching double figures in six-straight games including a career-high 24 points last time out against Northeastern State.
•Levi Braun is averaging 8.1 ppg this season … 49 of his 52 field goals this season have been from 3 and he has attempted only seven shots inside the 3-point line … he is fifth in MIAA in 3-pointers per game at 2.5 … Braun's 49 3-pointers is fourth on the Ichabod freshman chart and his 98 attempts are fifth … the Ichabod freshman 3-point record is 58 set by Jalen Lewis during the 2018-19 season.
•Jace Williams is averaging 5.9 ppg with 4.6 rpg recording 20 blocks tallying his first career double double at Washburn with 10 points and 10 rebounds against Rogers State.
•Connor Deffebaugh is scoring 5.5 ppg with 2.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.
•Rathen Carter is scoring 5.1 ppg with 2.8 rpg.
•Will McKee is scoring 3.6 ppg with 4.4 rpg.
•Tyler Geiman became the 26th member of Washburn's 1,000-point club at Missouri Western … his career total is 1,261 in 108 career games, which is 11th all-time on the Ichabod chart … against Northeastern State he passed both Kyle Wiggins … Greg "Buzz" Wilson is 10th with 1,323 career points.
•Jalen Lewis is currently 35th on the Ichabod all-time scoring chart with 904 career points.
•Tyler Geiman became the first Ichabod to have at least 1,000 points, 500 assists, 500 rebounds and 100 steals going over that mark against Missouri Western … he became the 12th Ichabod to reach at least 1,000 points and 500 rebounds … he was the seventh Ichabod to reach at least 1,000 points and 100 steals … he was also the 10th Ichabod to reach at least 1,000 points and 200 assists and now the first Ichabod to reach at least 1,000 points and 500 assists in a career … if that's not enough he recorded the first triple double in Washburn history with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists against Northeastern State on Feb. 23.
•Washburn is 58 of 86 from the free throw line in the last five minutes of games (67 percent) compared to its opponents connecting on 79 of 111 attempts (71 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. WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
•is 77-36 in his fourth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 110-66 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 2-4 against Missouri Southern.
 
MISSOURI SOUTHERN HEAD COACH JEFF BOSCHEE
•is in his seventh season as the head coach at Missouri Southern going 136-69.
•served four seasons as an assistant and associate head coach.
•was named the head coach of the Lions on July 1, 2014.
•spent three years at the Barstow School in Kansas City where in 2010 his team went 22-4.
•was the Big 12 Freshman of the Year in 1999-2000 and was a third team All-Big 12 pick his senior season. He helped lead the Jayhawks to a Final Four appearance in 2002 and previously held the conference record for three pointers made in a career with 338.
•holds the Kansas record for three's made in a career and is second all-time in games started.
•is 8-2 against the Ichabods.
 
LAST TIME OUT FOR THE ICHABODS
#25 WASHBURN 88 (15-5, 15-5 MIAA)
NORTHEASTERN STATE 73 (4-16, 4-16 MIAA)
TOPEKA, Kan. – Behind a career-high 24 from Tyler Nelson and Washburn's first triple double in school history by Tyler Geiman, the No. 25-ranked Washburn Ichabods rolled to an 88-73 win over Northeastern State on Tuesday night in Lee Arena. The Ichabods (15-5, 15-5 MIAA) will continue their busy stretch to end the regular season at Missouri Southern on Thursday followed by the regular season finale at home against Emporia State on Saturday.
The Ichabods jumped out to a 21-10 lead midway through the first half before an 11-0 run by the RiverHawks (4-16, 4-16 MIAA) tied the score at 21. An 11-3 run by the Ichabods pushed them back in front by eight at the under 5-minute media timeout, but after the RiverHawks came back to cut the margin for the Ichabod lead at five at 34-29, Washburn finished the half on a 14-3 run taking a 48-32 lead into the break.
The run continued coming out of the locker room with a 13-2 spurt stretching the run to a 27-5 outburst as Washburn led 61-34 with 15:19 to go and would eventually build the lead to as many as 29 with 7:35 to go cruising to the win.
Nelson scored 13 of his career-high 24 in the first half finishing 7 of 8 from the field and 5 of 5 from 3-point range hitting 5 of 6 free throws all in 30 minutes of play also adding two steals. At the break, Geiman had 12 points with 10 rebounds and five assists setting up the record-setting triple double finishing with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists with the final assist coming on a full-court length pass to a streaking Jalen Lewis for the 10th assist of the night. Connor Deffebaugh came off the bench to score 14 points and Lewis finished with 11.
Troy Locke led the RiverHawks with 20 points and Christian Cook scored 16 off the bench.
Washburn shot 49 percent for the game hitting 28 of 57 shots overall and 15 of 31 shots from deep. Northeastern was 25 of 62 overall and 9 of 28 from 3-point range.
Washburn and Northeastern State each had 35 rebounds.
  •The Lions are 12-8 (12-8 MIAA) this season after topping Pittsburg State at home 93-74 last time out.
•The Lions have gone 5-4 in home games and 7-4 on the road.
•The Lions were picked No. 2 in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll.
•Cam Martin leads the Lions in scoring at 24.8 ppg with a team-high 9.1 rebounds per game.
•Stan Scott is scoring 13.2 ppg and Winston Dessesow is scoring 12.3 ppg while Lawson Jenkins is scoring 10.4.
  •Thursday's meeting will be 85th between these two schools in a series that dates back to 1968-69.
•Washburn leads the all-time series 49-35 … the Ichabods have averaged 78 points a game against the Lions in the 84 previous meetings.
•Washburn is 30-12 against the Lions in home games and 18-20 in road contests.
•The two teams have met at least once a year since 1976-77.
•The Ichabods are 3-2 against the Lions in the MIAA Tournament.
•In games played in Lee Arena, the Ichabods are 23-8.
•The teams have met three times in the NCAA Tournament - on March 10, 2000 when the Lions picked up a 79-73 overtime win in Joplin and on March 12, 2011 when the Lions topped the Ichabods in overtime again 82-79 in Edmond, Okla., and March 16, 2019 in Maryville, Mo. with the Lions winning 101-100.
•The 110-73 win by the Lions over the Ichabods in Joplin on Dec. 7, 2013 was the largest defeat suffered by an Ichabod team since joining the NCAA Division II ranks.
  Jan. 14, 2021 -- 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.
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 Ichabods are 1616-1095-2 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 635-292 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 463-95 (.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 regular season with Emporia State on Feb. 27 in Lee Arena.