•The Washburn Ichabods are back on the road finishing off a stretch of five of their last six on the road when they will face No. 7-ranked Northwest Missouri on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Bearcat Arena.
•The Ichabods (16-9, 13-6 MIAA) have won their last three games and six of their last eight after the win over the Griffons on Thursday night in a 79-64 win in St. Joseph.
•Northwest Missouri (23-3, 16-2 MIAA) has been off since a 71-64 win at Missouri Southern on Feb. 12 as its game with Emporia State scheduled for Feb. 17 was postponed due to weather.
•The Bearcats won the first meeting of the season in Topeka 71-63 on Jan. 17.
•The Ichabods lead the all-time series with the Bearcats 62-51 and have lost the last two meetings but have won the last two games played in Bearcat Arena.
•Northwest Missouri has won 72 of its last 74 home games with both loses coming to the Ichabods. Overall the Bearcats have won 11 games in a row.
•Since the 2011-12 season the Bearcats are 148-11 at home … Washburn has handed the Bearcats three of those loses.
•The Ichabods are ranked sixth in the MIAA in scoring defense allowing 69.8 ppg while the Bearcats are third in the league in scoring offense at 80.1 ppg.
•The Ichabods are ranked fourth in the league in opponents field goal percentage at 43 percent while the Bearcats lead the league in field goal percentage at 52 percent.
•The 2021-22 season marks the 117th season of Ichabod basketball. •Tyler Geiman went over the 4,000-minutes played mark last time out against Lincoln and has now played more minutes than any Ichabod in program history (4,075) … Geiman needs five games played to pass Keith Downing for the most appearance in Washburn history with 137 set by Keith Downing … only Greg Wilson (135) and Downing have played more games in an Ichabod uniform … Geiman made his 100th start as an Ichabod against the Bronchos … he leads the Ichabods in scoring average at 14.9 ppg with 6.0 rpg and 6.7 apg … in the last 10 games he is scoring 17.5 ppg with 7.0 rpg and 7.1 apg while averaging 15.7 ppg with 6.2 rpg and 7.2 apg in MIAA games … Geiman is ranked second in the NCAA D2 ranks in active assists with 679 and 11th in assist average at 5.1 … overall Geiman is sixth in all NCAA divisions of active career assists.
•Jalen Lewis is scoring 13.1 ppg hitting 51 of 134 3-pointers (.381) … he is the 27th member of the Ichabod 1,000-point club and is currently 10th on the Ichabod all-time scoring chart with 1,343 career points in 113 career games … he has 248 career 3-pointers which passed Shannon Kruger for the most in school history against Rogers State … he also attempted his 1,000th field goal attempt as an Ichabod at Lincoln, which is 11th all-time at Washburn.
•Jeremy Harrell missed the last game against Missouri Western … he recorded his second double double at Washburn against Lincoln with 11 points and 10 rebounds and he is averaging 9.4 ppg with 4.9 rpg and has averaged 13.6 ppg in the last six games with 8.0 rpg.
•Michael Keegan is scoring 9.4 ppg with 5.8 rebounds per game, 1.0 blocks per game and 1.2 steals per game … he is fourth in the MIAA in blocked shots, ranks 11th in the MIAA in rebounds and 10th in steals.
•Connor Deffebaugh is scoring 9.0 ppg and has averaged 10.0 ppg in is last 10 games.
•Jonny Clausing is coming off his best game of the season in his first start at Missouri Western after scoring 24 points on 9 of 14 shooting playing a career-high 36 minutes adding two blocks … his 24 points was one shy of his career high … he is averaging 9.7 ppg adding 4.1 rpg this season.
•Tyler Nelson is scoring 6.2 ppg with 2.1 rpg and 2.4 apg in 10 games playing an average of 24.1 minutes a game.
•Tyler Geiman became the 26th member of Washburn's 1,000-point club and his career point total stands at 1,661 points in 133 career games, which is fifth all-time on the Ichabod chart after passing Ryan Murphy who scored 1,654 and Harold Brown who scored 1,651 against Missouri Western … next on the chart is Will McNeil who scored 1,701 points as an Ichabod … Geiman's 233 career 3-pointers is third all-time at Washburn and his 628 career 3-point attempts is first on the Ichabod charts … since defensive rebounds were tracked in the Washburn record books starting in the 1994-95 season, Geiman is second in defensive rebounds with 5930000 trailing only Brady Skeens who had 713.
•In the final five minutes of games this season, Jalen Lewis is hitting 22 of 48 shots from the field going 17 of 21 from the free throw line.
•As a team the Ichabods are 85 of 118 (.720) in the final five minutes of games at the free throw lline compared to 104 of 136 (.765) by opponents.
  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 (628)
Minutes: 1st (4075)
Defensive rebounds: 2nd (593)
Assists: 2nd (678)
Assists average: 2nd (5.1)
3-point field goals made: 3rd (233)
Games played: 3rd (133)
Steals: 4th (142)
Games started: 4th (105)
Points: 5th (1661)
Field goals attempted: 5th (1317)
Defense rebound avg: 6th (4.5)
Minutes average: 6th (30.6)
Field goals made: 7th (595)
Rebounds: 7th (662)
 
Jalen Lewis is another Ichabod who has placed his name in the Washburn record book. Below are Lewis' career rankings.
3-point field goals made: 1st (248)
3-point field goals attempted: 2nd (592)
Free throw percentage: 2nd (.844)
Minutes: 5th (3197)
3-point FG percentage: 8th (.419)
Points: 10th (1343)
Field goals attempted: 10th (1021)
Field goals made: 12th (450)
Minutes average: 12th (28.3)
Games started: 15th (80)
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
•is 98-47 in his fifth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 131-77 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 2-10 against Northwest Missouri.
 
NORTHWEST MISSOURI HEAD COACH BEN MCCOLLUM
•is 323-81 in his 13th season as the Bearcats' head coach.
•is a 2003 graduate of Northwest Missouri.
•named the 20th head coach in Bearcat history.
•played for Northwest going 51-12 in two seasons including a 29-3 mark during a run to the NCAA Elite Eight during the 2001-02 season. •The Bearcats (23-3, 16-2 MIAA) have been off since an 82-71 win over Missouri Southern on Feb. 12.
•Trevor Hudgins leads the team in scoring at 24.6 ppg and 24.6 ppg in MIAA games adding 4.3 apg playing 37.0 mpg.
•Wes Dreamer is scoring 13.8 ppg with 5.5 rpg and Diego Bernard is scoring 12.0 ppg with 5.5 rpg.
•The Bearcats are shooting 41 percent from 3-point range and have a scoring margin of +16.7 this season.
  •Saturday's meeting will be the 114th between the two schools and Washburn holds a 62-51 lead in the series.
•The Bearcats have won 16 of the last 19 meetings.
•The series dates back to the 1940-41 season and they have played each other every year since WU joined the MIAA in 1989-90.
•The Ichabods are 21-15 against the Bearcats in Lee Arena.
•Washburn is 25-24 in Maryville and the Ichabods are 32-26 in MIAA contests.
•In the MIAA Tournament, the Ichabods are 4-7 against Northwest after falling in the 2018 and 2019 MIAA Championship games before winning the 2021 Tournament in Maryville.
•In the NCAA Tournament, the Ichabods are 2-2 against the Bearcats.
•The Ichabods won a regional final contest against the Bearcats in Topeka on March 10, 2001 advancing to the Elite Eight in Bakersfield, Calif., after a 67-61 win. (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.
  (Feb. 18, 2022) ST. JOSEPH, Mo. –Washburn led for all but 11 seconds and for that span they were tied as a hot-shooting Ichabod team topped Missouri Western for the fourth-straight game sweeping the regular season series in a 79-64 win. Washburn will return to the road to face Northwest Missouri on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in Maryville.
Making his first start of the season, Jonny Clausing scored 24 points on 12 rebounds for his third double double adding a career-high 36 minutes on 9 of 14 shooting. He was +23 in plus/minus minutes in the game.
Washburn (16-9, 13-6 MIAA) led 45-32 at the break after hitting 67 percent of its shots from the field going 18 of 27 overall and perfect 5 of 5 from deep while holding the Griffons to 12 of 33 shooting in the opening 20 minutes.
The Ichabods opened the second half on an 8-2 run pushing out to a game-high 19-point lead over the Griffons (12-14, 8-10 MIAA). A 3-pointer by the Griffons capping a 22-11 run trimmed the Ichabod lead back to eight at 64-56 with 7:43 to go. Washburn then went on a 13-3 run of its own over a 4:26 stretch building the margin back to 18 at 77-59 as the Ichabods went on to the 15-point win.
Following Clausing's 24 points, which was one shy of his career-high was three other Ichabod starters in double figure scoring with Jalen Lewis scoring 14 and Tyler Geiman and Michael Keegan each going for 13. Geiman added eight assists and three steals and Keegan chipped in four boards and two blocks.
Will Eames led the Griffons with 16 points.
Washburn finished the game 61 percent from the field hitting 30 of 49 shots overall going 6 of 11 from 3-point range and hit 13 of 18 free throws. The Griffons were held to 40 percent shooting on 22 of 55 shooting and hit 12 3-pointers in the game going 8 of 15 from the line.
The Ichabods outscored the Griffons 44 to 16 in the paint and 11 to 2 in fast break points. Washburn also outrebounded Missouri Western 30 to 27 in the game.
  •The Ichabods are 1636-1106-2 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 654-303 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 475-99 (.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 return home to host Missouri Southern on Feb. 24 for senior night and then wrap up the regular season on Feb. 26 at Emporia State before starting the MIAA Tournament March 2 depending on seeding.