• The Washburn Ichabods will begin a three-game road trip starting on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. when they will face Missouri Western in St. Joseph.
• The Ichabods are 10-9 and 7-6 in the MIAA after winning their fifth-straight game in a 66-56 win over Northeastern State.
• The Griffons (8-12, 4-10 MIAA) lost their sixth game in a row on Jan. 28 at Nebraska-Kearney falling 85-75.
• The Ichabods won the first meeting between the two teams on Dec. 17 in Topeka 76-51.
• Washburn has won the last five in the series with the Griffons after losing the previous four in a row.
• The Ichabods are 23-25 in games played in St. Joseph.
• 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 13.1 ppg while averaging 13.6 ppg in MIAA contests. He has reached double figures in 13 of 19 games this season. He is third on the team in rebounds at 5.9 per game. He recorded his first Washburn double double against Emporia State with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Orr is 12th in the MIAA in scoring average and third in the MIAA in field goal percentage at 59 percent going 21 of 28 from the field in his last three games.
• Tyler Nelson is averaging 11.6 ppg overall scoring 12.3 ppg in MIAA contests. He tied a career-high with 25 points against Nebraska-Kearney and has reached double digits in his last six games averaging 15.5 ppg.
• Connor Deffebaugh is scoring 9.7 ppg adding 3.1 assists per game missing the last seven games with an injury returning on Jan. 28 against Northeastern State and is 10th in the MIAA in assists per game at 3.4.
• Levi Braun is scoring 10.0 ppg and has hit 46 of 103 3-pointers (45percent). Of his 62 field goals this season, 46 have been from 3-point range.
• Michael Keegan is scoring 8.4 ppg with 5.7 rpg with 18 steals and 17 blocks. In MIAA games he is scoring 9.5 ppg with 5.2 rpg … he is seventh in the MIAA in blocks per game and gone 13 of 14 from the free throw line in the last two games.
• Jarmell Johnson is scoring 6.8 ppg with 3.1 rpg. Johnson scoring 7.1 ppg with 3.6 rpg in MIAA games.
• Brady Christiansen is scoring 5.8 adding 7.9 rpg which leads the team. He is ranked third in the MIAA in rebounds. In MIAA games is he averaging 6.5 ppg with 8.0 rpg. This season, Christiansen has 151 rebounds, which is seventh on the Ichabod all-time freshman chart. His 8.0 rpg average would be second on the chart if the season ended today.
• Jaden Monday is scoring 5.4 ppg and has gone 18 of 53 from 3-point range this season.
• Jordan Vincent is scoring 4.8 ppg with 1.2 rpg and 2.1 apg. He has gone 18 of 23 from the free throw line this season.
• Zaid Dajani is scoring 2.6 ppg in 16 appearances.
  • 100-11 … Washburn's record under head coach Brett Ballard when leading with 5:00 to go in the game.
• 9-1 … Washburn's record under head coach Brett Ballard this season when leading with 5:00 to go in the game.
• 58.4 … The average number of points per game the Ichabods have allowed in the 10 wins.
• 77.0 … The average number of points per game the Ichabods have allowed in the nine losses.
• 50 … The shooting percentage of Ichabod opponents in the nine losses (240 of 480).
• 38 … The shooting percentage of Ichabod opponents in the 10 wins.
• 4 … The number of Ichabods averaging double figures in the 10  wins.
• 2 … The number of Ichabods averaging double figures in the nine losses.
• 27 … The shooting percentage of Ichabod opponents from 3-point range in the 10 wins (59 of 119).
• 39 … The shooting percentage of Ichabod opponents from 3-point range in the nine losses (74 of 191).
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
• is 114-58 in his sixth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 147-88 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 10-4 against Missouri Western.
 
MISSOURI WESTERN HEAD COACH WILL MARTIN
• is 35-41 in his third season as the Griffons head coach after serving two seasons as an assistant coach.
• Martin, a Franklin, Tennessee native, also had three stops at NCAA Division I institutions before his arrival to St. Joseph.
• Most recently, Martin served assistant men's basketball coach and the director of athletic admissions at Martin Methodist College (NAIA).
• As a graduate student, Martin served as a graduate assistant and video coordinator for men's basketball at the University of Tulsa from 2013-2015.
• As an undergraduate, Martin served as a men's basketball manager at the University of Kentucky under head coach John Calipari. During Martin's tenure with the Wildcats, the team reached the Elite 8 on three occasions, the Final Four on two occasions and Martin served as the head manager of the 2012 National Championship team.
• Martin received his bachelors from the University of Kentucky in 2012 and obtained his Master's in Education from the University of Tulsa in 2015.
• is 2-5 against the Ichabods.
  • The Griffons are 8-12 overall and 4-10 in the MIAA after falling 85-75 at Nebraska-Kearney last time out losing their last six games overall.
• Julius Dixon leads a balanced attack with three players averaging in double figures with 13.0 ppg. Will Eames is scoring 10.9 ppg and Taye Fields is scoring 10.5 ppg with a team-high 7.5 rpg.
• The Griffons are scoring 65.9  ppg while allowing 67.8 ppg this season.
  (Dec. 17, 2022)  TOPEKA, Kan. — The  Ichabod men's basketball team led by as many as 27 holding Missouri Western to a season-low 51 points as Washburn used a 36 to 9 run over a 13-minute stretch en route to a 76-51 win over the Griffons on Saturday in Lee Arena.
With the Ichabods (4-6, 1-3 MIAA) holding a 15-10 lead midway through the first half after a 3-pointer by Michael Keegan, the Griffons (5-2, 2-1 MIAA) scored six straight points to take their largest lead of the game at 21-15 with 7:26 to play. Washburn responded with a 9-0 run of its own and added to it after three Griffon points to finish the opening half on a 22 to 5 spurt taking a 37-26 advantage in the break.
The halftime intermission did little to cool the Ichabods off as they continued on a 19-4 run out of the breaker the first 8:15 of the second half taking a 56-30 lead with 11:12 to go. Missouri Western had a three-point play by Will Eames with 10:27 to play,
The Griffons would not get with 15 the rest of the way as the Ichabod snapped their three-game losing streak while winning their fifth game in a row over Missouri Western.
Washburn was led by Tyler Nelson who scored 19 points going 4 of 8 from deep adding seven rebounds, six assists and a career-high six steals playing 37 minutes. Nelson's six steals is the most by an Ichabod since Will McNeill had seven against Missouri Southern on Jan. 31, 2013. Levi Braun scored 17 points off the bench going 6 of 7 from the field and 5 of 6 from deep while Michael Keegan scored 14 with four boards. Brady Christiansen tied a career high with nine points adding 13 rebounds with two assists.
Western was led by Reed Kemp with 15 off the bench.
Washburn finished 30 of 66 from the field holding the Griffons to 17 of 53 shooting. The Ichabod were 12 of 24 from behind the 3-point line starting the game 7 of 15 in the first half. On the glass, the Ichabods out rebounded the Griffons 43 to 30 turning 11 offensive rebounds into 16 points.  Washburn also outscored the Griffons 30 to 16 in the paint and forced 16 turnovers scoring 16 points.
  • Wednesday's meeting will be the 103rd between the two schools with Washburn leading the series 60-42 and have won the last three in the series.
• The Ichabods are 52-35 against MWSU in MIAA games and 34-15 in games played in Topeka overall.
• The Ichabods are 23-25 in games played in St. Joseph against the Griffons.
• In the MIAA Tournament the Ichabods are 4-7 against the Griffons.
• The Ichabods lead 6-4 in overtime games including the 95-94 win on Jan. 9, 2019.
• The two teams have only met once in the NCAA Tournament coming in Washburn's 72-46 win on March 13, 2021 in Aberdeen, S.D. in the first round of the regional (Jan. 28, 2023) TOPEKA, Kan. – The Wahburn Ichabods won their fifth game in a row leading from start to finish in a 66-56 win over Northeastern State on Saturday in Lee Arena.
The Ichabods jumped out to a 7-1 lead to start the game five-plus minutes into the contest holding the RiverHawks (10-9, 7-8 MIAA) to an 0 of 8 shooting mark from the outset. The RiverHawks never led in the game but tied it at 9-9 with 11:28 to play in the opening half before the Ichabods used a 7-0 run to jump out to a 16-9 lead at the under 10 timeout. Washburn would have another 7-0 spurt later in the frame and would lead by as many as 13 before taking a 33-22 lead into halftime.
Washburn (10-9, 7-6 MIAA) moved out to its biggest lead of the game at 44-29 with 16:02 on a lay up by Andrew Orr before the RiverHawks cut the lead to three at 46-43 with 10:37 using a 14-2 run as they hit 6 of 7 shots from the field while the Ichabods struggled going 1 of 9 during the 5:05 stretch.
A Connor Deffebaugh jumper pushed the lead back to five, but NSU hit a 3-pointer by leading scorer Dillon Bailey before Brady Christiansen responded with a 3-pointer of his own as the lead returned to five points.
With Washburn leading by two at 51-49 with 7:03 to go, Levi Braun connected on a 3-pointer followed by a breakaway dunk by Michael Keegan pushed the lead to seven at 56-49. NSU trimmed the lead back to five under minutes to go, but Braun hit another 3-pointer sending the lead to eight and would not get any closer than nine the rest of the way as the Ichabods snapped their three-game losing streak to the RiverHawks improving to 4-0 in games against Northeastern State played in Lee Arena.
Tyler Nelson scored 16 points to lead the Ichabods and Orr finished with 11 points and eight rebounds. Jarmell Johnson had eight points and Keegan finished with seven points, eight rebounds, four assists and a steal.
The Ichabods shot 41 percent for the game going 24 of 58 and 12 of 14 from the free throw line. Northeastern State was 17 of 45 overall (38 percent) and hit 15 of 27 free throws. The Ichabods held a 39 to 29 advantage on the glass and forced 18 RiverHawk turnovers converting them into 18 points. Washburn's bench outscored NSU 23 to 2 in the game..   • The Ichabods are 1654-1117-2 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 670-312 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 484-101 (.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 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.