• The Washburn Ichabods will open MIAA play on Monday night in Tahlequah, Oklahoma as they will face Northeastern State at 7:30 p.m. in the NSU Events Center.
• The Ichabods are 3-3 this season coming off a 96-63 win over Ottawa in their non-conference finale on Saturday in Lee Arena.
• The RiverHawks have been off since a 99-65 win over Haskell on Nov. 25 improving their record to 3-1 on the season. NSU's first two games of the season were canceled because of winter weather in Bismark, N.D.
• The Ichabods are 21-11 all-time in MIAA openers since joining the league and have won 10 of their last 12.
• Ichabod Brett Ballard is 4-1 as Washburn's head coach in MIAA openers.
• Washburn will be looking to snap a two-game slide to the RiverHawks falling in both match-ups last season. Prior to last year, the Ichabods had won eight in a row over the RiverHawks.
• The Ichabods are coming off the program's 30th 20-win season and the fourth under Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard in his five seasons reaching 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. • Connor Deffebaugh leads two other Ichabods in double-figure scoring with 12.8 ppg with Andrew Orr scoring 11.8 ppg ppg and Levi Braun scoring 10.3 ppg. Deffebaugh also leads the team in assists with 4.3 per game.
• Orr scored a career-high game against Oklahoma Baptist scoring 17 points reaching double figures for the fifth time in six games this season. He scored 13 off the bench last time out against Ottawa.
• Levi Braun has hit 17 of 34 3-pointers this season including a season-best 6 of 8 showing against Ottawa last time out.
• Jaden Monday returned to the starting line up scoring seven points with two assists and three steals in 16 minutes in the win against Ottawa. This season is scoring 7.8 ppg with a.0 apg.
• Jordan Vincent is scoring 6.8 ppg with 1.8 rpg and 2.5 apg. He has gone 15 of 17 from the free throw line this season.
• Michael Keegan is scoring 6.5 ppg with 6.5 rpg and nine total steals and nine total blocks. His nine blocks is tied for the MIAA lead.
• Jarmell Johnson scoring 6.2 ppg scoring with 2.2 rpg.
• Brady Christiansen's 7.8 rpg leads the Ichabods adding 4.3 ppg. Fellow freshman Zaid Dajani is scoring 5.0 ppg while sophomore transfer Jayden Hibbitt is scoring 3.8 ppg coming off a season-best 13 points against Ottawa.
• Tyler Nelson made his season debut against Ottawa playing 15 points dishing out three assists hitting his first shot of the season.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
• is 107-52 in his sixth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 140-82 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 6-2 against Northeastern State.
 
NORTHEASTERN STATE HEAD COACH JA HAVENS
• is 24-32 in his third season as the RiverHawks' head coach and 156-106 in his 10th season overall as a head coach.
• played at Northeastern State for two seasons (1996-98) under NSU Hall of Fame head coaches Ken Hayes and Larry Gipson.
• Havens previously coached at East Central University (Ada, Okla.) where he was head coach for seven seasons, carrying a record of 131-74, and was the fastest coach in ECU history to win 100 contests
• He 2-3 against the Ichabods (0-1 at East Central).
  • Northeastern State is 3-1 on the season winning their last two including a 99-65 win over Haskell on Nov. 25 last time out.
• NSU is scoring 92.0 ppg while allowing 59.5 ppg.
• Rashad Perkins leads the team in scoring at 18.3 ppg adding 4.3 rpg.
• Dillon Bailey is scoring 15. 8 ppg and Christian Cook is scoring 15.0 ppg.
• The RiverHawks hold a 39.2 to 30.5 advantage over their opponents on the glass shooting 42 percent from 3-point range (47-111) and shooting 53 percent from the field overall (143-271).
• Northeastern State was picked to finish sixth in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll..
• The RiverHawks finished the 2021-22 season with a 16-14 overall mark and tied for seventh place in the MIAA standings at 10-12. 
• Last year's squad earned the program's first postseason win since 2014 and advanced to the MIAA Tournament Quarterfinal. 
• Additionally, NSU returns four of its five starters from last year's squad and over 75 percent of its offense. 
  (Feb. 5, 2022)  TAHLEQUAH, Okla. –Washburn let an six-point lead slip away with 50 seconds to play as the Ichabods fell in a 72-71 loss to Northeastern State.
Washburn (13-8, 10-5 MIAA) turned the ball over with 50 seconds to play and then fouled as the RiverHawks hit both free throws cutting the lead to 68-64. Washburn was fouled on its next possession, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Northeastern State (11-11, 6-10 MIAA)  came down and hit a 3-pointer with 31 seconds to play trimming the lead to one at 68-67.
On Washburn's next possession, Levi Braun was sent to the line and hit two free throws with 27 seconds to go pushing Washburn's lead back to three at 70-67, but a foul on Washburn sent NSU's Dillon Bailey back to the line where he hit both attempts with 15 seconds left as Washburn led 70-69 with the ball.
The Ichabods were fouled again and went to the line and hit one of two attempts with 14 seconds to play and Bailey hit a driving lay up and was fouled and hit his seventh free throw in seven attempts putting the RiverHawks in front 72-71. After a Washburn timeout, the Ichabods in bounded the ball to halfcourt and then called another time setting up a final play, but the shot rimmed out as Washburn fell by one as the RiverHawks swept the season series.
In the final 50 seconds, the RiverHawks outscored the Ichabods 10 to 3 and was 2 of 2 from the field, 5 of 5 from the free throw line while the Ichabods were 3 of 5 from the line.
Washburn trailed 38-35 at the break after jumping out to a 13-2 lead to start the game as the Ichabods were outshot 52 to 39 percent in the first half. In the second half, Washburn shot 54 percent from the field holding the RiverHawks to 35 percent, but NSU was 12 of 13 from the free throw line in the second half compared to the Ichabods 9 of 13. For the game, NSU was 21 of 24 from the line compared to 13 of 20 for the Ichabods.
Tyler Geiman led the Ichabods with 26 points going 11 of 16 from the field adding nine rebounds and five assists – all team highs. Jalen Lewis had 15 points and tied Shannon Kruger for the Ichabod career 3-point record with 242. Jonny Clausing had 13 points off the bench.
All five NSU starters reached double figures in the win for the RiverHawks.
  • Monday's meeting will be the 20th all-time between the two schools and the Ichabods lead 10-9.
• The Ichabods have won the last eight of the last 10 meetings in the series, but have lost the last two contests.
• The Ichabods and RiverHawks played in the second round of the NCAA Tournament with Washburn falling 64-59 on March 15, 2003 in Stephenville, Texas.
• The RiverHawks went on to win the NCAA National Championship in 2003.
• Washburn is 4-5 in games played in Tahlequah and the Ichabods are 6-3 in games played in Lee Arena and 0-1 in neutral site games. (Nov. 26, 2022) TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods put a bow on their non-conference schedule with a 96-63 win over Ottawa on Saturday afternoon in Lee Arena.
The Ichabods (3-3) never trailed in the game jumping out to a 17-5 lead over the first 6-plus minutes of the game hitting 7 of 12 shots and 3 of 6 shots from deep with Levi Braun leading the charge scoring eight points with a pair of 3's enroute to 21 points on the day tying a career high. Washburn would go on to lead by as many as 18 midway through the first half before an 8-0 run by the Braves (4-4) trimmed the lead back to 10 at 39-29 with 2:38 to play in the frame until the Ichabods came back with a 9-3 run of their own to close out the half with a 16-point lead at 48-32.
Washburn would go on to lead by 35 with under a minute to play after shooting 16 of 27 from the field at a 60 percent clip as well as a 14 of 17 performance at the free throw line cruising to the 33-point win.
Following Braun's 21 points on 7 of 10 shooting going 6 of 8 from 3-point range, Connor Deffebaugh scored 17 and Andrew Orr and Jayden Hibbitt each had 13 off the bench. Brady Christiansen had nine points in his first career start and Orr had nine boards.
Ty Bland had 13 points off the bench to lead the Braves.
Washburn shot 54 percent from the field for the game hitting 34 of 63 shots going 20 of 25 from the free throw line.
Washburn outrebounded the Braves 41 to 27 turning 17 offensive rebounds into 18 points. The Ichabods also had a 48 to 24 advantage in points in the paint and scored 36 points off of 18 Brave turnovers.
  • The Ichabods are 1647-1111-2 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 663-307 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 478-99 (.848) all-time in Lee Arena.
• The 2022-23 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.
  • On Saturday, Dec. 3 will face Emporia State at 3 p.m. in the conference home opener. After another trip to Oklahoma to face Rogers State on Dec. 10, Washburn will host Missouri Western on Dec. 17 before making yet another trip to Oklahoma on Dec. 31 to battle Central Oklahoma. Washburn returns home to open the new year on Jan. 5 hosting Central Missouri and Lincoln on Jan. 7.