• The Washburn Ichabods continue their four-game home stand with Emporia State on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Lee Arena.
• The Ichabods (10-7, 7-4 MIAA) have won four of their last five games with three wins coming on the road. Washburn fell on Monday night to No. 2-ranked Northwest Missouri 71-63.
• The Hornets (14-3, 9-2 MIAA) have won their last seven games in a row coming off an 85-72 win at Missouri Southern on Jan. 15.
• The Ichabods lead the all-time series with Emporia State 110-104 in the most-played series in Washburn's program history.
• The meeting on Saturday will be the 215th meeting between the two schools.
• The Ichabods are 7-3 in the last 10 meetings and have gone 63-44 all-time in games played in Topeka.
• The Ichabods have won nine-straight games played in Lee Arena. ESU's last win in Lee Arena was on Feb. 23, 2011 in a 73-68 victory over the Ichabods.
• The Hornets are second in the MIAA in scoring at 80.8 ppg and ranked fifth in scoring defense at 69.8 ppg.
• The Ichabods are seventh in the MIAA in scoring offense at 73.5 ppg and also seventh in scoring defense at 69.8 ppg.
• The Ichabods are ranked second in the league in opponents field goal percentage at 44 percent while the Hornets are first in the league in opponent shooting percentage at 43 percent.
• 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 13.5 ppg hitting 38 of 94 3-pointers (.402).
• Tyler Geiman is averaging 12.7 ppg with 6.4 rpg and 6.1 apg in 10 games this season … he is averaging 13.9 ppg with 6.9 rebounds per game in conference play this season … Geiman went over the 600 assist plateau against Missouri Western and the 600 rebound mark in his career against Missouri Southern … Geiman is also ranked second in the NCAA D2 ranks in active assists with 619 and 12th in assist average at 5.0.
• Michael Keegan is scoring 9.8 ppg with 6.2 rebounds per game, 1.3 blocks per game and 1.7 steals per game … he is averaging 9.0 points and 7.4 rpg in MIAA play … he leads the MIAA in blocked shots, ranks ninth in the MIAA in rebounds, fifth in steals and 21st in minutes played.
• Connor Deffebaugh is scoring 9.6 ppg and has averaged 18.5 ppg in is last two games scoring 20 against Missouri Southern and 17 against Northwest Missouri.
• Tyler Nelson is scoring 8.4 ppg with 3.4 rpg and 2.1 apg in five games playing an average of 25.2 minutes a game.
• Jeremy Harrell is scoring at 8.8 ppg in 17.5  minutes per game averaging 9.0 ppg in MIAA play.
• Jonny Clausing is scoring 6.8 ppg in five games this season playing 15.0 mpg.
• Levi Braun scoring 6.3 ppg and 6.9 ppg in MIAA play and has hit 17 of 36 3-point field goals in conference play.
• Tyler Geiman became the 26th member of Washburn's 1,000-point club and his career point total stands at 1,519 points in 125 career games, which is eighth all-time on the Ichabod chart … next on the chart is Ewan Auguste who scored 1,636 points from 1997-2001 … Geiman's 217 career 3-pointers is third all-time at Washburn and his 595 career 3-point attempts is first on the Ichabod charts passing Shannon Kruger's 584.
• Jalen Lewis was the 27th member of the Ichabod 1,000-point club and is currently 14th on the Ichabod all-time scoring chart with 1,246 career points in 105 career games … Lewis also became only the sixth Ichabod to go over the 200 made 3-pointers mark now sitting with 235 which ranks second behind all-time leader Shannon Kruger who hit 242 in 122 games.
  Senior Tyler Geiman has left his name all over the Ichabod career record book. Below is where he ranks in each category:
3-point field goals attempted: 1st (595)
Defensive rebounds: 2nd (556)
Assists: 2nd (619)
Assists average: 2nd (5.0)
3-point field goals made: 3rd (217)
Field goals attempted: 5th (1214)
Steals: 6th (127)
Minutes average: 7th (30.3)
Games played: t-7th (125)
Points: 8th (1519)
Field goals made: 8th (541)
Rebounds: t-8th (618)
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
•is 92-45 in his fifth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 125-75 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 4-2 against Emporia State.
 
EMPORIA STATE HEAD COACH CRAIG DOTY
• is 49-49 in his fourth season at Emporia State.
• is in his eighth season as a head coach at the D2, NAIA, and NJCAA level he is 211-99 with three national championships.
• in two seasons at Graceland, Doty went 49-22 and won the 2018 NAIA Division I National Championship in Municipal Auditorium.
• prior to Graceland, Doty spent four years as the head coach at Rock Valley College winning two national championships and appearing in three straight NJCAA Division III title games to finish with a 113-28 record.
• is 1-3 against Washburn. • The Hornets (14-3, 9-2 MIAA) have won their last seven games in a row coming off an 85-72 win at Missouri Southern on Jan. 15.
• The Hornets are led by the No. 1 and No. 5 scoring tandem in the MIAA as Tray Buchanan leads the league in scoring at 27.8 ppg and Jumah'Ri Turner at 18.4 ppg. Buchanan scored 40 points against Graceland earlier this season.
• The Hornets are second in the MIAA in scoring at 80.8 ppg and ranked fifth in scoring defense at 69.8 ppg. (Jan. 17, 2022) TOPEKA, Kan. – After trailing by as many as 14 midway through the second quarter, the Washburn Ichabods used a 12-3 run trimming the No. 2-ranked Northwest Missouri lead to five with 4:45 to go but would not get any closer in a 71-63 loss to the Bearcats on Monday night in Lee Arena.
Washburn led 19-14 with 8:21 to go in the opening half after falling behind 7-0 to start the game, but the Bearcats went on an 11-3 run to take a 25-22 lead and would go on to take a 34-30 lead into the break over the Ichabods. Both teams shot 38 percent in the opening stan• a.
Starting the second half, Connor Deffebaugh scored on a layup to cut the lead to 34-32 but the Bearcats (16-1 9-0 MIAA) pushed out to a 42-32 lead and eventually to 14 with 11:01 to play before Jonny Clausing scored five-straight points for the Ichabods pulling with nine at 58-49. After one of Northwest's 11 3-pointers, the Ichabods followed with a Deffebaugh bucket and a Tyler Geiman jumper cutting the lead down to five at 61-56 but Northwest outscored the Ichabods 10-3 over the next 2:54 hitting all three field goal attempts going 4 of 4 from the free throw line while the Ichabods were 1 of 5 during the same stretch increasing their lead to 12 with 1:12 to go.
Jalen Lewis hit a pair of free throws and Deffebaugh scored late putting the final margin at eight.
Deffebaugh, after scoring a career-high 20 against Pittsburg State last time out, led the Ichabods with 17 points and Geiman finished with 14 with five rebounds and four assists. Clausing scored 12 points in 17 minutes collecting four boards and a block.
Trevor Hudgins scored 26 points and Wes Dreamer had 18 to lead Northwest.
The Ichabods finished 22 of 53 from the field hitting 8 of 20 shots from deep and was 11 of 13 from the free throw line. Northwest was 24 of 54 from the field and hit 11 of 30 shots from 3-point range going 7 of 14 from deep in the second half.
  • The meeting on Saturday will be the 215th meeting between the two schools and the Ichabods lead at 110-104. This is the most-played series for Washburn.
• The Ichabods have won 7 of the last 10 meetings.
• The two teams started the series in 1905-06, Washburn's first recorded year of basketball, and they have met every year since the 1945-46 season.
• This will be the 78th-straight year they have played each other at least once.
• The Ichabods are 27-8 against the Hornets in Lee Arena.
• Washburn is 4-1 against ESU in MIAA Postseason tournament games. (Feb. 27, 2021) TOPEKA, Kan. – The No. 25-ranked Washburn Ichabods came back from a 14-point halftime deficit to defeat the Emporia State Hornets, 73-70, in the regular season closer.
Emporia State opened scoring with a layup 30 seconds into the game to take an early 2-0 lead. The Hornets held on to the lead until a three-pointer by Jalen Lewis tied the game up at nine with 13:41 on the clock. Emporia answered with a jumper a minute later to retake the lead but two made free throws by Tyler Nelson soon tied the game again at 11 with 12:24 left. The Ichabods took a short lead for about four minutes until the Hornets tied it up at 17 with 8:02 on the clock. From here, Emporia held on to its lead, only letting the Ichabods get within three points in the last seven and a half minutes of the first half. Emporia went on a 22-8 run in that time as the Ichabods trailed the Hornets, 39-25, at halftime.
The Ichabods came in to the second half with more drive, going on a 8-0 run to cut their deficit to six points with 16:18 left on the clock. Washburn continued to fight back and chip away at its deficit, only for Emporia to answer and extend its lead once again. With under five minutes left in the game, the Ichabods went on a 8-0 run to take its first lead of the second half (65-63) thanks to a dunk by Jace Williams with 2:30 left on the clock. The Hornets tied it up at 65 a short 13 seconds later. Washburn regained the lead for good just 15 seconds later as Lewis sank a three-point shot with 2:02 left. As the Hornets attempted to take control again, the Ichabods answered to make sure that didn't happen. Washburn kept their defense up in the final minute to ensure the 73-70 victory over Emporia State.
Tyler Geiman led the team with 26 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Lewis recorded 13 points and was 4-for-7 from three-point range. Jonny Clausing rounded out the double-digit point leaders with 12 points on the night.
The Ichabods recognized two student-athletes on their Senior Day- Will McKee and Jace Williams. McKee has recorded 330 points and 308 rebounds in his three seasons. McKee will graduate with a bachelor's degree in finance. Williams currently leads the team with 21 blocks this season and has notched 369 points and 276 rebounds in his four seasons. Williams is majoring in mass media and will be returning for his final season with the Washburn football team in the fall.
Jumah'Ri Turner led the Hornets with 24 points, while Austin Downing had a team-high eight assists.
  • The Ichabods are 1631-1104-2 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 649-301 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 471-99 (.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 continue the homestand facing Newman on Jan. 26 and Central Oklahoma on Jan. 29.