• The Washburn Ichabods will look to move their winning streak to four games as they will host Rogers State on Thursday night in Lee Arena.
• The Ichabods are 8-9 and 5-6 in the conference after a 65-62 win over Nebraska-Kearney on Saturday.
• The Hillcats (11-8, 7-6 MIAA) rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit to top Missouri Southern 71-68 on Saturday.
• Rogers State won the first meeting between the two teams on Dec. 10 in an 88-81 contest.
• The Ichabods lead the all-time series with the Hillcats 4-3 and have lost the last two games, both coming in Claremore.
• Washburn is 3-0 in home games against the Hillcats.
• 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 13.3 ppg in MIAA contests. He has reached double figures in 11 of 17 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 57 percent.
• Tyler Nelson is averaging 11.1 ppg overall scoring 11.9 ppg in MIAA contests. He tied a career-high with 25 points against Nebraska-Kearney last time out and he has averaged 21.3 ppg in his last three games with 5.0 rpg and 3.0 apg.
• Connor Deffebaugh is scoring 10.2 ppg adding 3.4 assists per game missing the last six games with an injury and is 10th in the MIAA in assists per game at 3.4.
• Levi Braun is scoring 10.1 ppg and has hit 42 of 94 3-pointers (45 percent). Of his 57 field goals this season, 42 have been from 3-point range.
• Michael Keegan is scoring 8.1 ppg with 5.6 rpg with 16 steals and 16 blocks. In MIAA games he is scoring 8.9 ppg with 5.1 rpg … he is seventh in the MIAA in blocks per game.
• Jarmell Johnson is scoring 6.8 ppg with 3.1 rpg. Johnson scoring 7.3 ppg with 3.6 rpg in MIAA games.
• Jaden Monday is scoring 5.8 ppg and has gone 18 of 51 from 3-point range this season.
• Brady Christiansen is scoring 5.6 adding 8.2 rpg which leads the team. He is ranked third in the MIAA in rebounds. In MIAA games is he averaging 6.4 ppg with 8.4 rpg. This season, Christiansen has  139 rebounds, which is seventh on the Ichabod all-time freshman chart. His 8.2 rpg average would be second on the chart if the season ended today.
• 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.
• Zaid Dajani is scoring 2.6 ppg in 16 appearances.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
• is 112-58 in his sixth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 145-88 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 4-3 against Rogers State.
 
ROGERS STATE HEAD COACH JUSTIN BARKLEY
• is 245-128 in his 12th season at Rogers State.
• served as the Hillcats' assistant coach from 2008-2010, became the third head coach in the brief history of the program when he took over in 2010.
• helped guide the Hillcats to a 52-13 record as an assistant where they claimed the school's first Sooner Athletic Conference regular season championship, reached the NAIA National Tournament, and achieved a No. 1 national ranking in 2008-09.
• Scored six points in 32 minutes with six rebounds and six assists against the Ichabods as a player at Northeastern State (his alma mater) in the NCAA South Central Regional Semifinal game when his RiverHawks topped the Ichabods 64-59 on March 15, 2003 in Stephenville, Texas - NSU would go on to win the NCAA National Championship that season.
• is 3-4 against the Ichabods.
  • The Hillcats are 11-8 and 7-6 in the MIAA topping Missouri Southern last time out in a 71-68 win.
• Joey Saracco leads the team in scoring at 15.2 ppg adding 6.9 rpg.
• Chris Whitaker is scoring 13.5 ppg and has hit 15 of 38 shots from 3-point range. Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr. is scoring 9.6 ppg.
  (Dec. 10, 2022)  CLAREMORE, Okla. – The Washburn Ichabods scored a season-high 54 points in the first half taking a 17-point lead into the break but let the lead slip away falling 88-81 at Rogers State on Saturday.
After shooing 57 percent in the first half hitting 20 of 35 shots and 7 of 13 from the 3-point line, the Ichabods cooled to 6 of 22 shooting in the second half for a 27 percent clip and hit 3 of 8 from the 3-point stripe in the loss. Opposite of the Ichabods, the Hillcats were 14 of 25 from the field in the opening half, Rogers State heated up in the final 20 minutes hitting 16 of 25 shots for a blistering 64 percent.
With the Ichabods leading 54-37 at the break, the Hillcats came out on an 11-5 run over the first 5:19 of the second half, but after a 3-pointer by Jaden Monday and a layup by Andrew Orr, Washburn pushed the lead back to 16 at 64-48 with 13:33 to go. An 8-0 by the Hillcats trimmed Washburn's lead to 64-56 with 11:43 to go and then.
A jumper by Tyler Nelson with 8:25 to go pushed the back to 10 at 75-65, but that point the Hillcats outscored the Ichabods 23-6 including an 11-0 over the final 4:13 of the game to send Washburn to its third-straight loss.
Orr led the Ichabods with 23 points pacing four Ichabods in double figures with Tyler Nelson scoring 15 making his first start of the season. Monday had 13 and Connor Deffebaugh had 10.
Joey Saracco had 22 points to lead the Hillcats.
Washburn finished 19 of 24 from the free throw line with Orr going 7 of 9 while the Hillcats were 24 of 31.
The Hillcats outrebounded the Ichabods 27 to 26 while scoring 26 points off of 17 Washburn turnovers.
  • Thursday's meeting with the Hillcats will be only the eighth between the two schools with the Ichabods leading the series 4-3.
• The Hillcats won the first meeting on Feb. 15, 2020 in Claremore, Okla. 80-62.
• In games played in Claremore, the Ichabods are 1-3 while going 3-0 in games played in Topeka.
• The Ichabods won the only meeting in the MIAA Tournament in an 78-59 win on March 3, 2021 in Topeka in the first round. (Jan. 21, 2023) TOPEKA, Kan. -- Washburn (8-9, 5-6) got off to a slow start offensively but was able to stretch its winning streak to three games in a row with a 65-62 win over Nebraska at Kearney on Saturday afternoon behind 25 points from Tyler Nelson. 
Andrew Orr had the only two points for the Ichabods through the first six and a half minutes of play as they fell behind 9-2 early on. Washburn reeled off a 12-0 run to tie and take the lead after free throws from Michael Keegan at the 9:17 mark of the first half. 
The Ichabods led for most of the remainder of the first half but a last second 3-pointer by the Lopers tied the game at 29 heading into halftime. 
Both offenses picked up after halftime, a 10-2 run for Washburn capped off by a 3-pointer from Tyler Nelson gave them a five-point lead, the largest of the game for the Ichabods to that point. Washburn's biggest lead of the game came at the 10:45 mark of the second half following a layup by Brady Christiansen. 
The Lopers responded with a 6-0 run in under a minute to tie the game at 48. Washburn scored the next basket to go on top and it was the final lead change of the day. The Ichabods lead never grew higher than four points in the final 10 minutes. 
In the final three and a half minutes Nebraska-Kearney cut the lead to two points twice. Each time Tyler Nelson had a response for Washburn, first with a jump shot and then two free throws in the final 30 seconds, pushing the lead to four.
The Lopers hit a three on the other end cutting the lead to one. Levi Braun knocked down two free throws with seven seconds to go and the final 3-point attempt from Nebraska-Kearney came up short. 
The Ichabods shot only 36.1% from the floor, and 18.2% from deep (4-22) but were able to hold the Lopers to just 36.2% shooting overall. The difference for Washburn came at the free throw line where they shot 17-19 compared to Nebraska-Kearney going 10-14 at the stripe. 
Tyler Nelson tied his career high with 25 points, as well as tied the team lead with three assists. Andrew Orr finished with 12 points on 6-8 shooting and Michael Keegan had 10 points on 6-6 shooting from the line. Brady Christiansen chipped in six points with 12 rebounds off the bench. 
Darrian Nebeker led the Lopers with 22 points and seven assists while Sean Evans had 19 points, nine rebounds and four 3-pointers.   • The Ichabods are 1652-1117-2 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 668-312 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 482-101 (.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 wrap up its four-game homestand with Northeastern State on Jan. 28 before heading out on a three-game road trip with contests at Missouri Western on Feb. 1, at Northwest Missouri on Feb. 4 and at Newman on Feb. 8. The Ichabods will next be in action in Lee Arena on Feb. 11 facing Central Oklahoma and Northwest Missouri on Feb. 14 followed by a trip to Jefferson City, Mo. to take on Lincoln on Feb. 16 and then finish with their fourth game in seven days at Central Missouri on Feb. 18.