• The Washburn Ichabods continue their four-game homestand on Saturday with Nebraska-Kearney at 3 p.m. in Lee Arena.
• The Ichabods are 7-9 and 4-6 in the winning their second game in a row with a 74-64 win over Fort Hays State on Wednesday.
• The Lopers (3-14, 1-10 MIAA) were topped by Emporia State on Wednesday night 72-59 in Emporia.
• The Ichabods trail the all-time series with Nebraska-Kearney 25-22 and the Ichabods have won the last two in the series winning the only meeting last year in a 77-75 win in Topeka.
• The Ichabods have won the last three meetings in Topeka and have gone 14-7 in games played in Topeka against the Lopers.
• 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 12.8 ppg while averaging 13.4 ppg in MIAA contests. He has reached double figures in 10 of 16 games this season. He is third on the team in rebounds at 5.7 per game. He recorded his first Washburn double double against Emporia State with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Orr is 13th in the MIAA in scoring average and third in the MIAA in field goal percentage at 56 percent.
• Levi Braun is scoring 10.4 ppg and has hit 41 of 92 3-pointers (45 percent) this season going 24 of 46 in his last seven games …he is fourth in the MIAA in 3-point field goal percentage and sixth in 3-pointers made per game.
• Connor Deffebaugh is scoring 10.2 ppg adding 3.4 assists per game missing the last five games with an injury and is 10th in the MIAA in assists per game at 3.4.
• Tyler Nelson is averaging 9.8 ppg overall scoring 10.6 ppg in MIAA contests. He has averaged 18.5 ppg in his last two games with 5.5 rpg and 3.0 apg.
• Michael Keegan is scoring 7.9 ppg with 5.6 rpg with 16 steals and 16 blocks. In MIAA games he is scoring 8.8 ppg with 5.0 rpg … he is seventh in the MIAA in blocks per game.
• Jarmell Johnson is scoring 7.0 ppg with 2.9 rpg. Johnson scoring 7.6 ppg with 3.4 rpg in MIAA games … he has reached double figures in each of the last three games averaging 14.0 ppg.
• Jaden Monday is scoring 6.1 ppg and has gone 18 of 47 from 3-point range this season and tied a career-high with six assists against Pitt State last week.
• 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.
• Brady Christiansen is scoring 5.6 adding 7.9 rpg which leads the team. He is ranked third in the MIAA in rebounds. In MIAA games is he averaging 5.9 ppg with 8.4 rpg.
• Zaid Dajani is scoring 2.6 ppg in 16 appearances.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
• is 111-58 in his sixth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 144-88 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 Nebraska-Kearney.
 
NEBRASKA-KEARNEY HEAD COACH KEVIN LOFT
• is in his 18th year as head coach at Nebraska-Kearney after being promoted from co-head coach.
• in his seventh season as the lone head coach on the squad, he has gone 261-236.
• has recorded a 250-208 overall mark at UNK in his 18th season.
• is 10-7 against Washburn.
  • Neb.-Kearney is 3-14, 1-10 n the MIAA.
• They are leading the MIAA in made three-pointers at 9.5 per game going 161 for 449 (36 percent).
• Darrian Nebeker leads the Lopers in scoring at 16.1 ppg and rebounding with 5.4 rpg and leads the MIAA and the team with 4.6 assists per game.
• Sean Evans is scoring 14.1 ppg with 3.9 rpg.
  (Dec. 4, 2022)  TOPEKA, Kan. – Washburn's Connor Deffebaugh driving layup with two seconds left in the game propelled the Ichabods to a 79-77 win over Nebraska-Kearney Saturday in Lee Arena. The Ichabods will be on the road on Dec. 9 at Central Oklahoma and then face Newman on Dec. 11 in Wichita.
Deffebaugh's drive broke a 77-77 tie after UNK's David Simental hit a fall-away 3-pointer from the corner to tie the score with 28 seconds to play. Overall the game had 19 lead changes with 11 coming in the second half. Washburn (4-4, 1-1 MIAA) held a six-point lead with 1:50 to go after a pair of free throws by Michael Keegan, but back to back threes tied the score.
The Lopers (3-3, 0-2 MIAA) led by two at the break and led by six twice in the second half with the final time coming at 42-36. With the Lopers leading 46-42, the Ichabods ripped off a 13-4 going up 55-50 with 13:07 left.
UNK took the lead back with 6:33 to play after a 3-pointer by Austin Lugar going up 64-62, but a bucket from Kevaughn Ellis with a foul for the 3-point play put the Ichabods back up one at 65-64. A 3-pointer by Jeremy Harrell gave the Ichabods the lead again after UNK went up by one.
With 2:52 to play and the Ichabods down one, Levi Braun hit his second 3-pointer of the day kickstarting a 7-0 run including four-straight points by Keegan as Washburn led 77-71 before the back to back 3-pointers by UNK setting up Deffebaugh's finish for the win.
Deffebaugh recorded a career-high with 19 points and Keegan had a career-highs of his own with 18 points and eight rebounds adding three assists and two blocks. Also in double figures were Ellis with 11 points and Harrell with 10.
Simental scored a game-high 21 for the Lopers and Darrian Nebeker had 20.
Washburn shot 50 percent for the game hitting 30 of 60 shots and UNK shot 50 percent as well going 31 of 62 from the field. UNK had nine 3-pointers compared to Washburn's seven, but the Ichabods were 12 of 14 from the free throw line compared to 6 of 8 for the Lopers.  .
  • Saturday's meeting will be the 48th in the series and the Lopers lead 25-22.
• The Ichabods won the last meeting in Topeka and have two straight in the series.
• All-time in games in Kearney, the Ichabods are 7-17.
• Washburn leads 14-7 in games played in Topeka.
• The Ichabods have won five of the last six overall meetings.
• The two teams have only played twice in the MIAA Tournament with the teams splitting a pair of games. (Jan. 18, 2023) TOPEKA, Kan. –Washburn scored the first 10 points of the game jumping out to a 13-2 lead and never looked back as the Ichabods led from start to finish in a 74-64 win over Fort Hays State on Wednesday night in Lee Arena. The Ichabods will continue their four-game homestand on Saturday hosting Nebraska-Kearney at 3 p.m.
Levi Braun scored eight of Washburn's first 10 points during the opening outburst hitting a pair of three points en route to a game-high 20 points. Washburn (7-9, 4-6 MIAA) held the Tigers (12-6, 7-5 MIAA) without a point until the 14:45 mark of the first half and would go on to build a lead of as many as 20 before the halftime break.
Coming out of the intermission, the Tigers cut into the Ichabod lead trimming the margin back to five using a 14-6 run at 43-38. After a Washburn timeout, the Ichabods responded with a 13-4 run of their own pushing the lead back to 14.
The Tigers pulled within seven at 68-61 with 2:30 to go, but the Ichabods scored the next six points of the game to go up 13 before Fort Hays State scored three to cut the final margin to 10.
Braun scored 16 of his 20 points in the first half to pace three other Ichabods in double figures with Tyler Nelson scoring 16 while Brady Christiansen and Jarmell Johnson each scored 11 off the bench. Michael Keegan had six points but also added a game-high seven rebounds with three assists and three blocks.
Eligah Nnanabu had 16 to lead the Tigers.
Washburn outrebounded the Tigers 32 to 26 in the game and finished 24 of 52 form the field for a 46 percent average hitting 6 of 18 3-pointers and 20 of 28 free throws. The Tigers were held to 8 of 25 shooting in the first half heating up to 16 of 28 in the second to finish 24 of 53 for a 45 percent clip.
Washburn outscored the Tigers 15 to 3 in fastbreak points and had a 24 to 18 advantage in bench points. • The Ichabods are 1651-1117-2 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 667-312 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 481-101 (.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 continue its homestand with Rogers State on Jan. 26 and Northeastern State on Jan. 28.