• The Washburn Ichabods will wrap up a two-game roadtrip as they will face Pittsburg State on Saturday afternoon in John Lance Arena at 3:30 p.m.
• The Ichabods are 5-9 and 2-6 after falling to the Missouri Southern Lions on Thursday in Joplin as the Lions won their seventh-straight game in a 70-50 win over Washburn.
• The Gorillas are 5-11 under first-year head coach Jeff Boschee and 2-8 in the MIAA.
• The Ichabods have won the last six in the series with the Gorillas and lead the all-time mark 108-78.
• In games played in Pittsburg the Ichabods are 33-53 all-time winning the last two games in John Lance Arena.
• Washburn won the last meeting between the two teams in an 80-79 win in Pittsburg.
• 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 13.5 ppg while averaging 14.8 ppg in MIAA contests. He has reached double figures in 10 of 14 games this season. He is third 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 11th in the MIAA in scoring average and fourth in the MIAA in field goal percentage at 57 percent.
• Connor Deffebaugh is scoring 10.2 ppg adding 3.4 assists per game missing the last three games with an injury.
• Levi Braun is scoring 9.6 ppg and has hit 34 of 79 3-pointers this season going 17 of 33 in his last five games.
• Michael Keegan is scoring 8.5 ppg with 5.8 rpg with 16 steals and 13 blocks. In MIAA games he is scoring 10.0 ppg with 5.3 rpg.
• Tyler Nelson is averaging 7.7 ppg overall scoring 8.4 ppg in MIAA contests.
• Jaden Monday is scoring 5.9 ppg and has gone 16 of 41 from 3-point range.
• Jarmell Johnson scoring 5.7 ppg with 2.7 rpg coming off a season-best 15 points against Missouri Southern.
• 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.
• Brady Christiansen 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 5.3 ppg with 8.1 rpg.
• Zaid Dajani is scoring 2.8 ppg in 13 appearances.
• The 50 points scored by the Ichabods against Missouri Southern last time out was tied for seventh for the lowest scoring game in program history in the shot clock era.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
• is 109-58 in his sixth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 142-88 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 6-1 against Pittsburg State.
 
PITTSBURG STATE HEAD COACH JEFF BOSCHEE
• served as head coach at MIAA rival Missouri Southern State University the past eight seasons. He compiled a 151-86 (.637) overall record leading the Lions.
• Boschee directed MSSU to four 20-win seasons and three consecutive trips to the NCAA Division II National Tournament between the 2017-18 and the 2019-20 campaigns. He was selected the 2017-18 MIAA Coach of the Year and his 2018-19 squad reached the NCAA Sweet 16 while posting a 25-8 record.
• is 9-3 against Washburn as Missouri Southern's head coach.
  • The Gorillas are 5-11 and 2-8 in MIAA play and have lost their last four games including a 79-63 loss to Emporia State on Thursday night.
• Quentin Hardrict leads the team in scoring at 13.4 ppg and Deshaun English II is averaging a double double with 12.1 ppg and 10.2 rpg.
• PSU is averaging 63.88 ppg allowing 69.63 ppg.
  (Jan. 15, 2022)  PITTSBURG, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods won their fourth game in a row holding off a late rally by Pittsburg State in an 80-79 win on Saturday in John Lance Arena. 
The Ichabods (10-6, 7-3 MIAA) led the entire second half, but the Gorillas cut the score to one at 80-79 with seven seconds to go. After an Ichabod turnover the Gorillas (4-12, 3-7 MIAA) had a 3-point attempt at the buzzer to win it but the shot from the corner hit the side of the basket as the Ichabods picked up the win.
Tyler Geiman led the Ichabods with 28 points hitting 10 of 19 shots adding six assists and five rebounds and Connor Deffebaugh had a career-high 20 points. Tyler Nelson had 11 points off the bench recording eight rebounds. Michael Keegan had six points and a career-high 13 rebounds.
Ryan Pippins had 22 to lead five Gorillas in double figures.
Washburn finished 28 of 62 from the field hitting 17 of 23 free throws and outrebounded the Gorillas 35 to 29. Pitt State finished 28 of 55 from the field and hit 14 of 15 free throws.
  • Saturday's meeting will be the 187th between these two schools in a series that dates back to the first meeting on Feb. 19, 1920.
• Washburn leads the all-time series 108-78.
• The Ichabods have won the last 21 of the last 25 meetings including 14 of the last 17 and the last six overall.
• The Ichabods are 33-3 in Lee Arena against PSU and 36-16 against the Gorillas in MIAA play. The home team is 35-13 in the last 48 regular season meetings, dating back to 1996-97.
• The series goes back to 1919-20 and it has been played at least once a year since 1941-42.
• In Topeka, Washburn leads 71-24 all-time.
• The longest winning streak by the Ichabods is 13 from Jan. 15, 1983 to March 4, 1988.
• The longest winning streak by the Gorillas is six games from Dec. 12, 1936 to Feb. 13, 1943. (Jan. 12, 2023) JOPLIN, Mo. – The Washburn Ichabods were held to a season-low 50 points as the Missouri Southern Lions won their seventh-straight game in a 70-50 win over the Ichabods. The Ichabods (5-9, 2-6 MIAA) trailed 38-25 at the break after going 7:33 off the clock without a point. After Michael Keegan connected on a 3-pointer with 15:37 to go putting the Ichabods up 10-9, the Ichabods went 0 of 12 from the field as the Lions (11-4, 7-2 MIAA) went on a 16-0 run to build a 25-10 lead with 8:57 to go in the half. Washburn responded with a 9-3 run of its own trimming the lead to nine at 28-19 but did not get any closer entering the locker room.
Washburn was 10 of 31 from the field in the first half as the Lions hit 15 of 26 shots overall and were outrebounded 20 to 14.
In the second half, Washburn cut the lead to 10 at 42-32 with 15:05 to go in the game but would not get any closer the rest of the game as the Ichabods struggled from field shooting 29 percent in the second half in the loss hitting 10 of 34 shots and 2 of 11 from deep.
The Ichabods were led by Jarmell Johnson's 15 points setting a career-high as he went 6 of 11 from the field. Andrew Orr had eight points and Michael Keegan and Tyler Nelson each had seven. Brady Christiansen led the Ichabods with eight boards.
Christian Bundy led all scorers with 16.
For the game the Ichabods were 31 percent from the field hitting 20 of 65 shots and finished 5 of 24 from 3-point range while going 5 of 12 from the free throw line. The Lions finished at 50 percent for the game connecting on 28 of 56 attempts. The Lions outrebounded the Ichabods 44 to 33 and outscored the Ichabods 42 to 24 in the paint. • The Ichabods are 1649-1117-2 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 665-312 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 start a four-game homestand with Fort Hays State on Jan. 18, followed by Nebraska-Kearney on Jan. 21, Rogers State on Jan. 26 and Northeastern State on Jan. 28.