• The Washburn Ichabods will wrap up the 2022 calendar year with a New Year's Eve contest at Central Oklahoma in Edmond starting at 3:30 p.m.
• The Ichabods are 4-6 and 1-3 in the MIAA after turning back Missouri Western in a 76-51 win on Dec. 17 ending a three-game losing slide.
• The Bronchos are 11-1 and 5-1 in the MIAA after a 73-63 win on Dec. 28 over Southwestern Christian. The Bronchos' lone MIAA loss is to Missouri Southern when the Lions topped UCO 56-50 on Dec. 8.
• The Ichabods all-time series is tied at 18 wins apiece with Central Oklahoma. The Ichabods have won the last two in the series including a 79-65 win last time in the MIAA Tournament on March 5, 2022 knocking out the top-seeded Bronchos.
• The Bronchos' last win in the series came in a 97-87 overtime win on Dec. 9, 2021 in Edmond.
• Washburn has lost the last three games played in Edmond and five of the last six overall. The Ichabods' last win in Edmond was in a 74-69 win on Jan. 14, 2017.
• The Ichabods are 6-0 in games played on New Year's Eve.
• The Sooner State has not been kind to the Ichabods this season. The Ichabods are 0-3 in Oklahoma after losses at Oklahoma Baptist (78-63), Northeastern State (81-78 in overtime) and Rogers State (88-81).
• 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. • Andrew Orr leads the Ichabods in scoring at 14.4 ppg while averaging 18.3 ppg in four MIAA contests. He has reached double figures in eight of 10 games this season. He is second on the team in rebounds at 6.2 per game. He recorded his first Washburn double double against Emporia State with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
• Connor Deffebaugh is scoring 11.0 ppg adding 3.3 assists per game. In MIAA play he is scoring 8.3 ppg.
• Levi Braun is scoring 8.5 ppg and has hit 22 of 52 3-pointers this season including a 5 of 6 showing against Missouri Western last time out.
• Michael Keegan is scoring 7.7 ppg with 6.1 rpg and 13 steals and 11 blocks.
• Tyler Nelson is averaging 7.4 ppg overall and 8.8  ppg in MIAA play after scoring a season-high 19 points  against Missouri Western going 4 of 8 from deep adding seven rebounds, six assists and a career-high six steals playing 37 minutes. Nelson's six steals is the most by an Ichabod since Will McNeill had seven against Missouri Southern on Jan. 31, 2013..
• Jaden Monday is scoring 7.2 ppg and has gone 15 of 33 from 3-point range including 5 of 7 from behind the arc in MIAA play.
• Jordan Vincent is scoring 5.8 ppg with 1.4 rpg and 2.1 apg. He has gone 16 of 18 from the free throw line this season.
• Jarmell Johnson scoring 5.3 ppg with 2.9 rpg.
• Jayden Hibbitt is scoring 5.2 ppg with 2.3 rpg and in MIAA play he is scoring 7.0 ppg with 3.0 rpg.
• Brady Christiansen made his second start of the season against Missouri Western and is scoring 4.7 adding 7.1 rpg which leads the team.
• Zaid Dajani is scoring 4.0 ppg in 10 appearances.
• Washburn is looking to avoid its first four-game losing streak since Dec. 30, 2009 to Jan. 9, 2010 when they lost five in a row total.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
• is 108-55 in his sixth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 141-85 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 5-5 against Central Oklahoma.
 
CENTRAL OKLAHOMA HEAD COACH BOB HOFFMAN
• is 59-37 in his fourth season as the Bronchos' head coach and 578-358 in his 29th year overall as a head coach.
• went to UCO from Mercer, where he led the Bears of Macon, Ga. to 209 wins in his 11-year stint there.
• Hoffman won 209 games at Mercer from 2008-19, including 119 conference games. He led the Bears to its first ever NCAA Tournament win in 2014 – a major upset of Duke in the opening round of March Madness. And he also became the first coach in NCAA history to win a tournament game in all four Division I postseason tournaments in a four-year span.
• is 2-3 against Washburn.
  • The Bronchos were ranked No. 9 in the latest NABC poll and No. 11 in the D2SIDA poll with an 11-1 overall record and 5-1 in the MIAA.
• Jaden Wells leads four Bronchos in double-figure scoring at 19.3 ppg. Callen Haydon is scoring 13.6 ppg while Camryn Givens is scoring 12.7 ppg and Curtis Haywood is scoring 11.8 ppg adding a team-high 7.3 rpg.
• The Bronchos are scoring 80.5 ppg while allowing 57.8 ppg.
  (March 5, 2022)  KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Washburn Ichabods will advance to their fourth MIAA Tournament Championship game in the last five years after a 79-65 win over the top-seeded Central Oklahoma Bronchos. Washburn will face Northwest Missouri on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. in Municipal Auditorium. 
Central Oklahoma (24-6) jumped out to a 14-9 lead with 12:03 to play in the first half before the Ichabods came back with a 5-0 mini run of their own tying the score at 14. After UCO cut the lead down to four at 23-19, the Ichabods used a 10-2 run capped by back-to-back 3-pointers by Tyler Geiman pushed the margin to 12 leading to a UCO timeout. Washburn led by as many as 13 in the frame on another 3-pointer by Geiman as the Ichabods took a 39-32 lead into the halftime break.
Washburn had its lead cut down to three at 55-52 with 11:34 to go until a 23-3 run by the Ichabods stretched the lead to 17 and UCO did not get closer than 12 the rest of the game as Washburn picked up wins against UCO in two of three meetings this season.
The Ichabods had four starters in double figures led by Jonny Clausing's 18 points recorded a double double with 11 rebounds. Geiman finished with 17 points adding seven assists. Jalen Lewis finished with 15 and Connor Deffebaugh had 10. Michael Keegan had seven points but added a career-high 15 rebounds with 12 defensive.
Washburn held the highest scoring team in the MIAA to 33 percent shooting and outrebounded the Bronchos 46 to 38. The Ichabods hit a season-high 14 3-pointers in 28 attempts. UCO did hit 19 of 23 free throws compared to 9 of 17 from the free throw lane. Washburn did outscore UCO 26 to 18 in the paint.
  • Saturday's meeting will be the 37th in the series history which is tied with 18 wins apiece for each team.
• Washburn has won eight of the last 11 meetings.
• The Ichabods lost the first match up as MIAA schools on Jan. 5, 2013 in a 72-67 loss in Edmond and in the MIAA tournament quarterfinals on March 3, 2013 in a 99-88 defeat in Kansas City.
• Washburn's two highest-scoring combined games in school history came against UCO. In 1992 the two teams scored 246 points (132-114, UCO) and in 1998 they scored 218 points (111-107, UCO).
• In the Jan. 13, 2018 meeting, the 49 points was the fewest by the Ichabods in a win in the shot clock era and the 96 combined points were the second fewest scored by Washburn and its opponent in the shot clock era.
• In 37 games, the Ichabods have averaged 77.2 points per game with the Bronchos.
• WU has scored at least 100 points against UCO three times and the Bronchos have done so twice.   (Dec. 17, 2022) TOPEKA, Kan. — The  Ichabod men's basketball team led by as many as 27 holding Missouri Western to a season-low 51 points as Washburn used a 36 to 9 run over a 13-minute stretch en route to a 76-51 win over the Griffons on Saturday in Lee Arena.
With the Ichabods (4-6, 1-3 MIAA) holding a 15-10 lead midway through the first half after a 3-pointer by Michael Keegan, the Griffons (5-2, 2-1 MIAA) scored six straight points to take their largest lead of the game at 21-15 with 7:26 to play. Washburn responded with a 9-0 run of its own and added to it after three Griffon points to finish the opening half on a 22 to 5 spurt taking a 37-26 advantage in the break.
The halftime intermission did little to cool the Ichabods off as they continued on a 19-4 run out of the breaker the first 8:15 of the second half taking a 56-30 lead with 11:12 to go. Missouri Western had a three-point play by Will Eames with 10:27 to play,
The Griffons would not get with 15 the rest of the way as the Ichabod snapped their three-game losing streak while winning their fifth game in a row over Missouri Western.
Washburn was led by Tyler Nelson who scored 19 points going 4 of 8 from deep adding seven rebounds, six assists and a career-high six steals playing 37 minutes. Nelson's six steals is the most by an Ichabod since Will McNeill had seven against Missouri Southern on Jan. 31, 2013. Levi Braun scored 17 points off the bench going 6 of 7 from the field and 5 of 6 from deep while Michael Keegan scored 14 with four boards. Brady Christiansen tied a career high with nine points adding 13 rebounds with two assists.
Western was led by Reed Kemp with 15 off the bench.
Washburn finished 30 of 66 from the field holding the Griffons to 17 of 53 shooting. The Ichabod were 12 of 24 from behind the 3-point line starting the game 7 of 15 in the first half. On the glass, the Ichabods out rebounded the Griffons 43 to 30 turning 11 offensive rebounds into 16 points.  Washburn also outscored the Griffons 30 to 16 in the paint and forced 16 turnovers scoring 16 points. • The Ichabods are 1648-1114-2 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 664-309 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 479-100 (.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.
  • Washburn returns home to open the new year on Jan. 5 hosting Central Missouri and Lincoln on Jan. 7.