• The Washburn Ichabods will be on the road for their next two games starting on Thursday at Missouri Southern in a 7:30 p.m. contest followed by a trip to Pittsburg State on Saturday afternoon for a 3:30 p.m. tip.
• The Ichabods are 5-8 and 2-5 in the MIAA after seeing their second half rally come up short to the Lincoln Blue Tigers in a 72-67 loss.
• The Lions are one of the hottest teams in the MIAA entering this week as they have won six straight games coming off a  75-65 road win at Nebraska-Kearney.
• The Ichabods have won the last two in the series with the Lions and lead the all-time series 51-36.
• Washburn is 19-21 all-time in games played in Joplin winning the last meeting in the Leggett & Platt Arena in an 87-72 win on Jan. 13, 2022.
• Washburn won the last meeting in Topeka on Feb. 24, 2022 in an 81-69 win.
• 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.
• 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 13.9 ppg while averaging 15.7 ppg in MIAA contests. He has reached double figures in 10 of 13 games this season. He is second on the team in rebounds at 5.6 per game. He recorded his first Washburn double double against Emporia State with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Orr is 10th in the MIAA in scoring average and third in the MIAA in field goal percentage at 58 percent.
• Connor Deffebaugh is scoring 10.2 ppg adding 3.4 assists per game missing the Central Missouri and Lincoln games with an injury.
• Levi Braun is scoring 9.8 ppg and has hit 32 of 74 3-pointers this season going 15 of 28 in his last four games.
• Michael Keegan is scoring 8.6 ppg with 6.0 rpg with 14 steals and 13 blocks. In MIAA games he is scoring 10.4 ppg with 5.6 rpg.
• Tyler Nelson is averaging 7.8 ppg overall scoring 8.6 ppg in MIAA contests.
• Jaden Monday is scoring 6.1 ppg and has gone 16 of 38 from 3-point range including 6 of 12 from behind the arc in MIAA play.
• Jordan Vincent is scoring 5.1 ppg with 1.3 rpg and 2.1 apg. He has gone 18 of 21 from the free throw line this season.
• 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.
• Jarmell Johnson scoring 4.7 ppg with 2.7 rpg.
• Brady Christiansen made his third start of the season against Lincoln last time out and is scoring 4.9 adding 8.0 rpg which leads the team. He is ranked third in the MIAA in rebounds. In MIAA games is he averaging 5.4 ppg with 8.1 rpg.
• Zaid Dajani is scoring 3.0 ppg in 13 appearances.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
• is 109-57 in his sixth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 142-87 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 4-5 against Missouri Southern.
 
MISSOURI SOUTHERN HEAD COACH SEAN McMAHON
• is 10-4 in his first season as Missouri Southern's head coach.
• he is in his second stint roaming the sidelines at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center as he served as an assistant and later associate head coach for the Lions for six seasons.
• He was an assistant coach at Division I Southeast Missouri for the past two seasons.
• is 0-0 against Washburn.
  • The Lions are 10-4 and have won their last six games and have an MIAA record of 6-2.
• The Lions have four players averaging double figures led by Vinson Sigmon, Jr., who is scoring 12.6 ppg. Avery Taggart is scoring 11.9 ppg while Winston Dessesow is scoring 11.8 ppg and Parker Long is scoring 10.0 ppg. Ndongo Ndaw leads the team in rebounds at 7.1 per game.
• The Lions are averaging 74.5 ppg while allowing 65.9 per game and they are +7.5 in rebound margin.
  (Feb. 24, 2022)  TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team wrapped up the home slate with an 81-69 win over Missouri Southern sweeping the season series with the Lions and winning their fifth game in a row overall as Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard won his 100th game on the Washburn sidelines.
Washburn (18-9, 15-6 MIAA), who was ranked No. 9 in the latest NCAA Central Region poll, trailed by its largest margin in the game at four points at 6-2 with 17:33 to play in the opening half before a 13-2 run over the next six-plus minutes pushed the Ichabods out to a 26-16 lead with 6:29 to play in the half. A 9-2 spurt by the Lions (14-13, 11-10 MIAA) cut the lead to three with two minutes to play before the half before the Ichabods scored five straight to take a 36-28 lead into the break.
After a 3-pointer by Michael Keegan to open the second half scoring stretched the Ichabod lead to 11, the Lions whittled the lead down to five at 44-39 with 15:33 to go, but a 12-2 run by the Ichabods moved the lead to 15 but the Lions would not get any closer than nine the rest of the way. Washburn did connect on 11 of its final 12 free throws the final 2:12 of the game after Missouri Southern was down by 14.
Washburn led by as many as 18 in the game en route to the 12-point win over the Lions as the Ichabods swept the season series for the first time since the 2005-06 season as Washburn improved to 24-8 all-time against the Lions in Lee Arena.
Tyler Geiman led the Ichabods with 23 points scoring 17 in the first half adding eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. He passed Will McNeil for fifth on the Ichabod all-time scoring chart with 1,705 points. Jalen Lewis scored 18 points while Connor Deffebaugh had 15 and Jonny Clausing had 11 points. Clausing also added two blocks.
Missouri Southern was led by Avery Taggart who scored a game-high 26 points hitting four 3-pointers and RJ Smith scored 16 and Winston Dessesow had 12 before fouling out.
Washburn shot 42 percent in the game hitting 25 of 59 shots overall and went 25 of 31 from the free throw line including 17 of 22 in the second half. The Lions were 23 of 63 from the field for a 37 percent average and was 10 of 33 from 3-point range and 13 of 17 from the charity stripe. Both teams finished with 39 rebounds.
The Ichabods outscored the Lions 36 to 12 in the paint and 29 to 7 in bench points.
  • Thursday's meeting will be 88th between these two schools in a series that dates back to 1968-69.
• Washburn leads the all-time series 51-36 … the Ichabods have averaged 78.2 points a game against the Lions in the 87 previous meetings.
• Washburn is 31-12 against the Lions in home games and 19-21 in road contests.
• The two teams have met at least once a year since 1976-77.
• The Ichabods are 3-2 against the Lions in the MIAA Tournament.
• In games played in Lee Arena, the Ichabods are 24-8.
• The teams have met three times in the NCAA Tournament - on March 10, 2000 when the Lions picked up a 79-73 overtime win in Joplin and on March 12, 2011 when the Lions topped the Ichabods in overtime again 82-79 in Edmond, Okla., and March 16, 2019 in Maryville, Mo. with the Lions winning 101-100. (Jan. 7, 2023) TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods had their second half rally come up short after trailing by 20 during the game in a 72-67 loss to Lincoln on Saturday in Lee Arena.
Washburn (5-8, 2-5 MIAA) trailed 43-29 at the break before a 6-0 run by the Ichabods closed the margin to 14. With 16:23 to go, Lincoln's Artese Stapleton hit a 3-pointer pushing the lead to 16 at 54-38, but the Ichabods would respond with a 14-2 run over the next 4:55 to cut the Blue Tiger lead to four at 56-52.
However, the Ichabods would go scoreless over the next 5:01 going 1 of 6 from the field as Lincoln (8-4, 4-4 MIAA) stretched its lead back to eight at 62-54 with 4:58 remaining. Washburn outscored the Blue Tigers 8-4 capped by a 3-pointer by Tyler Nelson with 58 seconds left cutting the lead back to 66-62 but the teams played basically even the rest of the way with the Blue Tigers outscoring the ichabods 6-5 to hang on for the win.
Washburn was led by Nelson who scored a game-high 18 points. Levi Braun scored 16 and Michael Keegan had 13. Brady Christiansen had 11 rebounds with four offensive ones adding nine points. DJ Richardson led the Blue Tigers with 17.
Washburn finished 25 of 57 from the field while Lincoln was 24 of 54. The Blue Tigers hit 10 of 26 from 3-point range while the Ichabods were 4 of 18 overall. Lincoln outrebounded the Ichabods 36 to 31. Washburn scored 40 of its 67 points in the paint. • The Ichabods are 1649-1116-2 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 665-311 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 480-101 (.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 will continue its road trip at Pittsburg State on Jan. 14 before returning to start a four-game homestand with Fort Hays State on Jan. 18, Nebraska-Kearney on Jan. 21, Rogers State on Jan. 26 and Northeastern State on Jan. 28.