• TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Washburn Ichabods will face their second Great Lakes Valley team in three days as they will travel to Kansas City, Missouri to face Rockhurst at 7 p.m. on Friday night.
• The Ichabods are 2-1 this season coming off a 70-63 win over William Jewell in Topeka on Nov. 16.
• Rockhurst is 1-2 this season after falling 66-64 at Emporia State on Nov. 16.
• The Ichabods fell 57-55 in the last meeting with Rockhurst on Nov. 15, 2019 in Kansas City.
• The Ichabods will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak to the Hawks in Kansas City.
• Washburn's last win in Mason-Halpin Arena came on Dec. 4, 2003 in a 69-54 victory.
• The Ichabods moved to 38-1 all-time in home openers with the win over William Jewell on Nov. 16. The lone loss came on Nov. 16, 1990 to Friends in an 89-88 setback. Since then the Ichabods have won their last 32 Lee Arena debuts including Wednesday's win.
• The Ichabods are receiving votes in the 2022-23 NABC Preseason Coaches Poll.
• 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 in 2022-23.
• 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 2022-23 season marks the 118th season of Ichabod basketball. • Brady Christiansen's 19 rebounds against William Jewell last time out is the most in the NCAA D2 ranks this season.
• Connor Deffebaugh leads three Ichabods in double-figure scoring with 12.0 ppg with Andrew Orr scoring 10.3 ppg and Jaden Monday scoring 10.0 ppg.
• Jarmell Johnson scoring 9.7 ppg coming off a career-high 14 against William Jewell last time out off the bench.
• Levin Braun is scoring 9.0 ppg hitting 7 of 3 3-pointers this season.
• Michael Keegan is scoring 5.3 ppg with 8.0 rpg.
• Brady Christiansen's 11.0 rpg leads the MIAA adding 5.7 ppg. He is also tied for the team lead with four steals.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
• is 106-50 in his sixth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 139-80 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 1-2 against Rockhurst.
 
ROCKHURST HEAD COACH DREW DIENER
• is in his eighth season on the Rockhurst bench and has gone 94-101 and 262-145 in his 14th season as a head coach.
• he was coach for six seasons at Cardinal Stritch University where he was 169-44.
• qualified for the national tournament in each of Diener's six seasons. The Wolves won the NAIA Division II national championship in 2013, and advanced to the Elite Eight in 2012 and the Sweet 16 in 2014 and 2015.
• is 3-2 against the Ichabods.
  • Rockhurst is 1-2 after falling at Emporia State last time out 66-64 after leading at the half 33-30.
• The Hawks are led by Rich Byhre who is averaging 19.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. He is joined in double figures by Jake Auer at 10.7 ppg and David Kalushadze at 9.3 ppg.
• The Hawks have scored and have given up 223 points this season.
  (Nov. 15, 2019)  KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Washburn Ichabods trailed by as many as 14 in the first half rallying to only trail by two at the break to take the lead back with under two minutes to play but could not hold on in a 57-55 loss to Rockhurst.
The Ichabods fell behind 16-2 to start the game as Washburn (2-1) started the game 1 of 10 from the field not hitting their first field goal until the 14:24 mark of the first half. With Washburn trailing 19-9 with 3:40 to go, the Ichabods finished the first half on an 11-3 run cutting the deficit to 22-20.
In the second half, Rockhurst pushed the lead to seven at 42-35 with 9:52 to go before back to back 3-pointers by Tyler Geiman and Isaiah Thorne pulled Washburn within one at 42-41 with 8:32 to play, but again the Hawks (1-2) pushed their advantage back to five at 48-43 with 5:50 left.
A 6-0 run by Washburn on a 3-pointer by Jalen Lewis with a free throw by Geiman and an lay-up by Jonny Clausing put Washburn up 49-48 with 4:38 to play but the Ichabods would get no closer than the two at the final buzzer after a pair of free throws by Lewis with seven seconds left.
Geiman led the Ichabods with 11 points and Clausing had 10 with a career-high 16 rebounds adding another career high of five blocks.
Washburn shot 5 of 25 from the field in the first half while holding Rockhurst to 9 of 31 overall. Washburn was 1 of 12 from deep the first 20 minutes of the game and finished 5 of 31 overall from 3-point range in the game. The Ichabods were 19 of 65 overall from the field.
  • Friday's meeting will be the 63rd in the all-time series.
• Washburn leads the all-time series 32-30.
• Washburn has won 15 of the last 21 meetings,
• The Ichabods and the Hawks have split the last 10 meetings.
• Overall the Ichabods are 10-20 in games played in Kansas City against the Hawks. (Nov. 16, 2022) TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods men's basketball team won its 32nd home opener in a row in Lee Arena on Wednesday night in a 70-63 win over William Jewell improving to 2-1 on the season.
The Ichabods started cold from the field hitting only 2 of their first 13 shots in the first eight minutes of the contest falling behind 14-4 as William Jewell (1-2) was 6 of 10 including a pair of 3-pointers taking the 10-point lead. A Jarmell Johnson 3-pointer jump started the Ichabod offense igniting a 13-2 run over the next 4:41 as Washburn pushed in front 17-16.
The teams traded baskets with neither squad going up by more than four until a 10-4 run by the Ichabods to end the half capped by a 3-pointer by Connor Deffebaugh put the Ichabods up 32-27 heading into the break.
Washburn used a 7-0 out of the locker room to move the cushion to 10 points at 39-29. William Jewell cut the lead back to three at 41-38 with 14:54 to go and would get within four at 56-52 (the score of last year's game in Liberty with an Ichabod loss) with 6:24 to play but the Ichabods would go 8 of 11 from the free throw line from that point on and 6 of 8 the final 4:29 of the game preserving the win.
Johnson led the Ichabods off the bench with 14 points adding three rebounds. Andrew Orr scored 13 followed by Deffebaugh's 11 points (with six assists) and Michael Keegan's 10 points. Brady Christiansen recorded a monster night on the glass with 19 rebounds, including 11 offensive boards adding nine points. The 19 rebounds were the most by an Ichabod since Brady Skeens recorded 22 in two different games in 2017.
Washburn finished 25 of 72 from the field and 15 of 18 from the free throw line. William Jewell was 21 of 51 overall and 16 of 27 from the free throw line. Washburn outrebounded the Cardinals 50 to 33 and 21 to 7 on the offensive glass turning the 21 offensive rebounds into 16 second chance points. Washburn's bench also held a 29 to 10 advantage in scoring.
  • The Ichabods are 1646-1109-2 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 662-305 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 477-99 (.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 be on the road again at Oklahoma Baptist on Nov. 22. Washburn is back at home on Nov. 26, the Saturday after Thanksgiving at 2 p.m. against Ottawa. On Monday, Nov. 28 the Ichabods will open MIAA play at Northeastern State and then face Emporia State on Dec. 3 at 3 p.m. in the conference home opener.