• The 2022-23 Washburn Ichabods will open the 118th season of men's basketball with an exhibition game at Kansas State on Nov. 1 in Manhattan, Kan.
• The Ichabods are coming off a 22-11 season recording the program's 30th 20-win season and the fourth under Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard in his five seasons.
• Washburn reached the second round of the NCAA Division II Playoffs falling to the eventual 2022 champion Northwest Missouri.
• The Washburn Ichabod basketball reached their fourth NCAA postseason in five years under head coach Brett Ballard last season.
• The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team was tabbed fourth in both the MIAA Preseason Coaches and MIAA Preseason Media polls announced Oct. 11 by the conference at the annual Basketball Media Day held at the College Basketball Experience in Kansas City
• The Ichabods will open the 2022-23 regular season at the Central Regional Challenge in Municipal Auditorium on Nov. 11 facing Henderson State and then Augustana (S.D.) the following day.
• The 2022-23 season marks the 118th season of Ichabod basketball. • Michael Keegan, the 2021-22 MIAA Freshman of the Year, is the Ichabods' leading returning scorer this season scoring 9.4 ppg with 6.1 rebounds per game, 1.4 assists per game and 1.0 blocks per game … he pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds in the win over UCO in the MIAA Tournament semifinals … Keegan's 32 starts last season is the most by a freshman in program history and his 33 games played is tied for sixth.
• Connor Deffebaugh is the teams' second-leading scorer at 9.1 ppg adding 2.5 rpg and 1.6 apg.
• Tyler Nelson scored 6.5 ppg with 2.1 rpg and 1.7 apg in 20 games playing an average of 21.6 minutes including hitting the game-winner against Northwest Missouri sending the Ichabods to a 60-59 win with his 3-pointer.
• Tyler Nelson scored 6.5 ppg with 2.1 rpg and 1.7 apg in 20 games playing an average of 21.6 minutes including hitting the game-winner against Northwest Missouri sending the Ichabods to a 60-59 win with his 3-pointer.
• The Ichabods will be without their top three scorers from last season with graduation as Tyler Geiman, 15.3 ppg, 5.9 rbpg and 6.8 apg; Jalen Lewis, 13.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.6 apg; and Jonny Clausing, 10.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg have all graduated.
• Overall the Ichabods return 40 percent of their scoring, 38 percent of their rebounds, 40 percent of their field goals, 40 percent of their 3-pointers, 40 percent of their free throws, 34 percent of their assists, 47 percent of their steals, 60 percent of their blocks and 46 percent of their minutes played from a season ago.
• As a player at Kansas, Brett Ballard was 5-0 against the Wildcats from 2000-02.
• As a member of the Kansas coaching staff, Ballard was 10-2 from 2004-09 against Kansas State.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
• is 104-49 in his sixth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 137-79 overall in his eighth year as a head coach.
• has led the Ichabods to four NCAA postseason appearances in five 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 and Tulsa basketball programs after working under head coach Danny Manning 2012-17 seasons.
• he helped Wake Forest to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2009-10 season following the 2016-17 season.
• 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 0-1 against Kansas State in exhibition games.
 
KANSAS STATE HEAD COACH JEROME TANG
• Spent 19 seasons as assistant (2003-17) and associate head coach (2017-22) at Baylor.
• Helped lead Baylor to the 2021 NCAA National Championship as well as the 2020-21 and 2021-22 Big 12 Championships
• Was part of 397 victories, 13 postseason appearances, including 10 in the NCAA Tournament, and the 2013 NIT Championship during his time at Baylor
• Built a powerhouse at Heritage Christian Academy as both head coach and athletics director, guiding the Eagles to four TAPPS Division A State Championships • K-State will be led by Jerome Tang, who was hired by the school on March 21 after a 19-year stint in helping build Baylor into a national powerhouse.
• The Wildcats were picked 10th in the Big 12 preseason poll.
• The Wildcats return All-Big 12 honorable mention selection Markquis Nowell (12.4 ppg., 5.0 apg.) and junior Ish Massoud (6.8 ppg., 2.8 rpg.) in 2022-23.
• In addition, the Wildcats have signed seven additional players for the upcoming season, including transfers Cam Carter (Mississippi State), Jerrell Colbert (LSU), David N'Guessan (Virginia Tech), Desi Sills (Arkansas State), Nae'Qwan Tomlin (Chipola College) and a pair of incoming freshmen Dorian Finister and Taj Manning.
• The Wildcats were 14-17 in 2021-22 going 6-12 in the Big 12.
  • The Ichabods are 16-32 all-time against Kansas State and 0-7 in exhibition games.
• Washburn has not beat the Wildcats since the 1945-45 season when they beat KSU 42-38.
• Thursday's game will be the eighth time Washburn has played Kansas State in an exhibition game.
• Washburn lost a triple-overtime game to the Wildcats on Nov. 4, 2006 in Bob Huggins' first game on the KSU bench 94-90.
• Washburn also fell 81-57 on Nov. 9, 2008; 90-44 on Nov. 7, 2010 to a No. 3-ranked Wildcat team and 81-61 on Oct. 30, 2012, on Nov. 9, 2014 68-56, 73-58 on Nov. 4, 2016 and 66-56 on Oct. 30, 2019.
  (Oct. 30, 2019)  MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team opened the 2019-20 season with their only exhibition game falling in a hard-fought 10-point loss to the Big 12 defending champion Kansas State Wildcats in a 66-56 loss. 
The Ichabods scored the first points of the game on a 3-pointer by Keven Biggs jumping out to an early lead and would continue to lead for much of the first half as the Wildcats only built their biggest lead of five with 28 seconds to go in the first half after a dunk by Montavious Murphy, but as he opened the game, Biggs connected on a 3-pointer to send the teams to the locker room with a 32-30 lead.
The second half saw the Wildcats push out to a 50-42 lead over the first 10 minutes of the frame and to 13 at 58-45 with 6:22 to go before Washburn trimmed the lead back to eight with 51 seconds to go but would not get any closer in the loss.
Biggs led the Ichabods with a game-high 17 points and Jalen Lewis scored 13 and Tyler Geiman scored 12. Biggs also had seven steals and Jonny Clausing had a team-high seven rebounds.
K-State was led by Makol Mawien had 16 points and nine rebounds.
Washburn attempted 45 3-pointers in the game which would have snapped the Ichabod single game record of 37 which they have done three times had not been an exhibition game. Washburn finished 20 of 68 from the field (29 percent) and hit 14 3-pointers. The Wildcats had a 50 to 30 advantage on the glass. The Ichabod forced 21 Wildcat turnovers leading to 23 points. (March 13, 2022) SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Washburn Ichabod basketball season came to end in the NCAA Central Regional semifinals with a 70-55 loss to Northwest Missouri in their fourth meeting of the season. Washburn finishes the season 22-11.
Offensively the Ichabods were limited in the first half as they were held to 9 of 28 shooting with six of their nine field goals coming from 3-point range. The Bearcats took the 41-27 lead into the break after hitting 12 of 22 shots overall going 7 of 10 from the 3-point range and hitting 10 of 11 free throws. Washburn trailed by as many as 21 in the opening half before cutting the margin to 14 before the half.
In the second half, the Ichabods trimmed the lead down to four at 46-42 with 10:06 to play on a layup by Jalen Lewis capping an 9-1 Ichabod run with a traditional 3-point play. However on the Bearcats (30-5) next possession, Luke Walters connected on a 3-pointer pushing the difference to seven, but a Jonny Clausing layup cut the lead to five at 49-45 with 7:21 to go.
The Bearcats then would connect on a 3-pointer and an Ichabod foul on the attempt away from the shot gave Northwest Missouri two more free throws doubling the Ichabod deficit. Washburn again came back to hit a pair of jumpers and cut the lead to six on a layup by Michael Keegan at 54-48 but the Ichabods did not get any closer.
Keegan led the Ichabods with 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting hitting 1 of 2 3-point attempts. Lewis had 14 points and Clausing finished with 10 points adding a team-high six rebounds. Tyler Geiman dished out nine assists.
Diego Bernard scored 18 to take game-high honors as Wes Dreamer scored 16 and Isaiah Jackson had 13.
Washburn finished the game shooting 22 of 54 from the field and 7 of 22 from deep hitting four of six shots from the free throw line. Northwest hit 41 percent from the field going 18 of 44 with 9 of 21 from deep and 25 of 28 from the free throw line.
  • The Ichabods are 1644-1108-2 all-time in the 118th year in the program's history.
• Washburn is the 10th-winningest program in NCAA Division II history by victories.
• Washburn is 660-304 since joining the conference and the NCAA.
• The Ichabods have recorded 30 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 16 NCAA Tournament bids going to three Elite Eight's appearing in the 2001 NCAA National Championship game.
  • The Ichabods are 476-99 (.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.
  • The Ichabods will open the 2022-23 regular season at the Central Regional Challenge in Municipal Auditorium on Nov. 11 facing Henderson State and then Augustana (S.D.) the following day. Washburn will open the home slate on Nov. 16 hosting William Jewell in Lee Arena at 7 p.m.