•The Washburn Ichabods will open the 2022 MIAA Men's Basketball Championships presented by Citizens Bank & Trust on Friday in Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium at 6 p.m. taking on Emporia State for the second-straight game.
•The Ichabods are the defending MIAA Tournament Champion winning the 2021 title at Northwest Missouri last season in a 69-68 win on March 6 as games were moved to campus sites due to the COVID 19 pandemic.
•The Ichabods (19-9, 16-6 MIAA) enter the tournament as the No. 4 seed and have won their last six games after wrapping up the regular season with an 85-59 win over Emporia State on Feb. 26 in Emporia.
•Emporia State (20-8, 15-7 MIAA) had its two-game winning streak snapped in the loss to the Ichabods.
•The Ichabods swept the regular season series winning the first meeting between the two teams on Jan. 22 in Topeka in a 68-65 win in Lee Arena when Jalen Lewis connected on a 3-pointer as time expired for the win.
•The Ichabods lead the all-time series with Emporia State 112-104 in the most-played series in Washburn's program history.
•The meeting on Friday night will be the 217th meeting between the two schools.
•Washburn is 4-1 against ESU in MIAA Postseason tournament games and have not faced the Hornets in the tournament since winning 67-51 on March 12, 2012 in the quarterfinals in Kansas City en route to the MIAA Tournament Championship … ESU's lone win over the Ichabods in the tournament came on March 3, 2011 in the MIAA quarterfinals in a 67-61 win on March 3, 2011.
•The Ichabods are 41-23 all-time in the MIAA Championship Tournament.
•The Ichabods are 2-2 in first round games (since expanding to 12 teams) … 20-7 in the quarterfinals, 13-7 in the semifinals and 6-7 in championship games.
•In MIAA Tournament games played in Kansas City, the Ichabods are 16-13.
•In quarterfinal games played in Kansas City, the Ichabods are 9-5. In semifinal games played in Municipal the Ichabods are 5-3 and in championship games in Kansas City the Ichabods are 1-5.
•As the No. 1 seed, the Ichabods are 21-3, at No. 2 they are 9-4, at No. 3 they are 2-1, at No. 4 they are 2-3, as the No. 5 seed they are 0-1, at No. 6 the Ichabods are 4-5, at No. 7 they are 0-1 and as the No. 8 seed they are 3-3.
•The Ichabods are in search of their 30th 20-win season and their fourth under Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard.
•The Ichabods are ranked fourth in the MIAA in scoring defense allowing 69.0 ppg while the Hornets are second in the league in scoring offense at 79.1 ppg.
•The Ichabods are ranked third in the league in opponents field goal percentage at 42 percent while the Hornets are fifth in field goal percentage at 46 percent.
•A win over the Hornets moves the Ichabods into the semifinals on Saturday, March 5 at 6:00 p.m. facing the winner of the Central Oklahoma vs the winner of the Central Missouri/Northeastern State game at 6 pm being played on Wednesday.
•A win by the Ichabods would be the eighth in the last 11 meetings with the Hornets. and would improve the Ichabods to 5-1 in the MIAA Tournament against Emporia State.
•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 (4,191) … Geiman will tie Keith Downing for the most appearance in Washburn history with 137 against Emporia State … Geiman made his 100th start as an Ichabod against the Bronchos … he leads the Ichabods in scoring average at 15.5 ppg with 6.2 rpg and 6.6 apg … in the last 11 games he is scoring 18.0 ppg with 6.8 rpg and 7.0 apg … Geiman is ranked second in the NCAA D2 ranks in active assists with 697 and 11th in assist average at 5.1 … overall Geiman is sixth in all NCAA divisions of active career assists.
•Jalen Lewis is scoring 13.2 ppg hitting 56 of 149 3-pointers (.376) … he is the 27th member of the Ichabod 1,000-point club and is currently 10th on the Ichabod all-time scoring chart with 1,386 career points in 116 career games … he has 253 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 and only played five minutes against Northwest Missouri and eight against Missouri Southern and seven against Emporia State in the regular season finale … he recorded his second double double at Washburn against Lincoln with 11 points and 10 rebounds and he is averaging 8.4 ppg with 4.4 rpg.
•Since moving into the starting lineup four games ago, Jonny Clausing is averaging 16.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game playing an average of 32.5 minutes per game …he is 26 of 43 shooting 61 percent from the field … for the season he is averaging 10.4 ppg with 4.6 rpg.
•Connor Deffebaugh is scoring 9.0 ppg with 2.5 rpg and 1.7 apg.
•Michael Keegan is scoring 9.2 ppg with 5.6 rebounds per game, 0.9 blocks per game …in two games against Emporia State he has averaged 12 points with five rebounds per game.
•Tyler Nelson is scoring 6.1 ppg with 2.1 rpg and 2.4 apg in 16 games playing an average of 22.6 minutes a game and hit the game-winner against Northwest Missouri sending the Ichabods to a 60-59 win with his 3-pointer.
•Tyler Geiman became the 26th member of Washburn's 1,000-point club and his career point total stands at 1,717 points in 136 career games, which is fourth all-time on the Ichabod chart after passing Will McNeil who scored 1,701 points as an Ichabod … only Javion Blake (1,829), Tom Meier (2,082) and Gary Carrier (2,626) have scored more points as an Ichabod … Geiman's 240 career 3-pointers is third all-time at Washburn and his 642 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 612 trailing only Brady Skeens who had 713 … overall Geiman is seventh all-time at Washburn in rebounds with 684.
  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 (642)
Minutes: 1st (4191)
Defensive rebounds: 2nd (612)
Assists: 2nd (696)
Assists average: 2nd (5.1)
Games played: 2nd (136)
Field goals attempted: 3rd (1358)
3-point field goals made: 3rd (240)
Points: 4th (1717)
Steals: 4th (147)
Games started: 4th (108)
Field goals made: t-5th (615)
Defense rebound avg: 6th (4.5)
Minutes average: 6th (30.8)
Rebounds: 7th (684)
 
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 (253)
3-point field goals attempted: 2nd (607)
Free throw percentage: 2nd (.848)
Minutes: 5th (3296)
3-point FG percentage: 8th (.417)
Points: 10th (1386)
Field goals attempted: 10th (1052)
Minutes average: 11th (28.4)
Field goals made: 12th (466)
Games started: 14th (83)
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
•is 101-47 in his fifth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 134-77 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 6-2 against Emporia State.
 
EMPORIA STATE HEAD COACH CRAIG DOTY
•is 55-54 in his fourth season at Emporia State.
•is in his eighth season as a head coach at the D2, NAIA, and NJCAA level he is 211-100 with three national championships.
•in two seasons at Graceland, Doty went 49-22 and won the 2018 NAIA Division I National Championship in Municipal Auditorium.
•prior to Graceland, Doty spent four years as the head coach at Rock Valley College winning two national championships and appearing in three straight NJCAA Division III title games to finish with a 113-28 record.
•is 1-5 against Washburn.
  •The Ichabods are 41-23 all-time in the MIAA Championship Tournament.
•The Ichabods are 2-2 in first round games (since expanding to 12 teams) … 20-7 in the quarterfinals, 13-7 in the semifinals and 6-7 in championship games.
•In games played in Kansas City, the Ichabods are 16-13.
•In quarterfinal games played in Kansas City, the Ichabods are 9-5. In semifinal games played in Municipal the Ichabods are 5-3 and in championship games in Kansas City the Ichabods are 1-5.
•As the No. 1 seed, the Ichabods are 21-3, at No. 2 they are 9-4, at No. 3 they are 2-1, at No. 4 they are 2-3, as the No. 5 seed they are 0-1, at No. 6 the Ichabods are 4-5, at No. 7 they are 0-1 and as the No. 8 seed they are 3-3.
•Former head coach Bob Chipman has won more MIAA Tournament games than any other coach. He has won 34 games going 34-19 recording a .653 winning percentage.
•Chipman and NWMSU's Ben McCollum are the only MIAA coaches to win five tournament titles. Tom Smith (MWSU) and Steve Tappmeyer (NWMSU), Ron Shumate (Southeast Missouri) and Kim Anderson (UCM/PSU) each have four titles.
•Overall, here's how the Ichabods have fared against MIAA opponents in the conference tournament by round and in Kansas City.
•First Round games were added for the MIAA Tournament starting in 2013 as the league expanded to 15 teams. The top four teams in the final standings received an automatic bye to Kansas City for the quarterfinals.

Team     1st Rnd  Qrts.      Semis    Finals     In KC     Total
UCM          —              4-0            1-1             —              3-1             5-1
ESU            —              4-1             —               —              3-1             4-1
FHSU         1-0             —               2-0            —              2-0            3-0
LU              —              —              —              —              —              0-0
MSSU        —              1-0             2-1             0-1             1-1             3-2
MWSU       0-1             0-1             3-2            1-2             1-2             4-6
NSU           0-1             —               —               —               —               0-1
NU             —              —              —              —              —              0-0
NWMSU     —              2-1             0-2            3-3            0-4            5-7
PSU           —              1-0             3-0            2-0            3-0            6-0
RSU           —              1-0             —              —              —              1-0            
UCO           —              0-1             —               —              0-1             0-1
UNK           —              1-1             —              —              1-1             1-1
--- vs former members
MS&T        —              1-1             —               —              1-0             1-1
UMSL         —              1-0             —               —               —               1-0
SEMO         —              —               —               —               —               —
SBU           1-0             2-0            1-1             1-0             —               5-1
TSU            —              2-0            1-0              —             —               3-0
UNO           —              —               —               0-1             0-1             0-1
Totals         2-2            20-7          13-7           6-7            16-13        41-23 •The Hornets (20-8, 15-7 MIAA) had their two-game winning streak snapped by the Ichabods in the season finale.
•The Hornets are led by the No. 1 and No. 3 scoring tandem in the MIAA as Tray Buchanan leads the league in scoring at 25.7 ppg and Jumah'Ri Turner at 19.6 ppg.
•The Hornets have hit the 20-win mark for the first time since 2007.
  •The meeting on Saturday will be the 217th meeting between the two schools and the Ichabods lead at 112-104. This is the most-played series for Washburn.
•The Ichabods have won 9 of the last 12 meetings.
•The two teams started the series in 1905-06, Washburn's first recorded year of basketball, and they have met every year since the 1945-46 season.
•This will be the 78th-straight year they have played each other at least once.
•The Ichabods are 28-8 against the Hornets in Lee Arena.
•Washburn is 4-1 against ESU in MIAA Postseason tournament games. (Feb. 26, 2022)  EMPORIA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods won their sixth game in a row wrapping up a 19-9 regular season with an 85-59 win over Emporia State on Saturday afternoon in White Auditorium.
The Ichabods jumped out a an 8-3 lead behind four-straight buckets by Jonny Clausing to start the game, but back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers by Tray Buchanan with a three from Jalen Lewis sandwiched in between a layup from Lewis and a layup by ESU's Jumah'Ri Turner gave ESU (19-9, 16-6 MIAA) its last lead of the game at 14-13 but the Ichabods hit 4 of 6 3-pointers over a six-minute stretch taking a 27-21 lead midway through the opening half. ESU cut the lead to four at 30-26 with 5:38 to play, but back to back 3-pointers by Tyler Nelson and a layup by Kevaughn Ellis and a layup by Tyler Geiman sent the Ichabods to the break with a 40-33 lead.
Starting the second half, the Ichabods came out with a 10-0 run hitting their first four shots of the half pushing out to a 17-point lead at 50-33 before ESU cut the lead to 10 with 12 minutes to play. ESU eventually cut the lead down to 10 with 6:55 to play, but a 15-0 run put the Ichabods put the game out of reach building a lead by as many as 26 points as the Ichabods swept the regular season series.
Lewis led the Ichabods with 23 points hitting five 3-pointers in 10 attempts pacing three other Ichabods in double figures as Clausing had 17 hitting 8 of 9 shots in the game. Michael Keegan scored 14 and Geiman finished with 12 recording a double double with 11 assists giving him 696 assists in his career.
Buchanan scored 16 points in 16 minutes before leaving the game and Turner had 11.
Washburn finished the game shooting 50 percent going 33 of 66 from the field including 13 of 32 from 3-point range and 6 of 9 from the free throw line. ESU was held to 38 percent shooting on 24 of 64 attempts going 8 of 33 from deep and 3 of 5 from the free throw line.
Washburn outrebounded the Hornets 38 to 33 in the game and outscored the Hornets 18 to 6 in fastbreak points.
  KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Washburn Ichabods picked up four awards as the 2022 All-MIAA team was announced today by the conference office as Tyler Geiman was named first-team All-MIAA and to the MIAA's All-Defensive team. Also earning honors were Jalen Lewis who was named third-team All-MIAA and Michael Keegan was named the MIAA Freshman of the Year.
Geiman was named first-team All-MIAA this season after leading the Ichabods with 15.5 ppg, 6.2 rpg and 6.6 apg. He also led the Ichabods in minutes per game (34.8) and steals per game (1.3). He finished tied for 10th in the league in scoring, seventh in rebounding, first in assists and assist to turnover ratio, tied for 11th in steals and fifth in minutes played. The first-team honor is Geiman's second time being named to the first team joining Brady Skeens, Will McNeill, Ewan Auguste and Dan Buie as the only Ichabods to be named multiple times to the MIAA's top postseason team. Geiman was named to the MIAA All-Defensive team for the second time in his career as well. Skeens was a three-time selection to the squad and McNeill was a two-time selection. Overall, it was Geiman's third time earning All-MIAA honors after earning honorable mention accolades in 2018-19 as a sophomore.
Lewis earned third-team All-MIAA honors after scoring 13.2 ppg adding 2.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game playing 31.2 minutes per game. Lewis was an honorable mention All-MIAA pick last season. Lewis finished 22nd in the MIAA in scoring and was ninth in the MIAA in 3-pointers per game and 21st in minutes per game.
Keegan joins Javion Blake as the only two Ichabods to be named the MIAA Freshman of the Year. This season Keegan scored 9.2 points with 5.6 rebounds a game adding 1.5 assists per game while leading the team in blocks with 26 starting 26 of 28 games. He finished 13th in the MIAA in rebounds per game, sixth in blocks and 20th in steals per contest.
  •The Ichabods are 1639-1106-2 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 657-303 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 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.
  • With a win over the Hornets move the Ichabods into the semifinals on Saturday, March 5 at 6:00 p.m. facing the winner of the Central Oklahoma vs the winner of the Central Missouri/Northeastern State game at 6 pm being played on Wednesday.
• With a loss, the Ichabods will have to wait until Sunday night to see if they will receive an NCAA at-large berth to the NCAA Central Region Tournament.