•    The Washburn Ichabods will wrap up the non-conference slate with the Avila Eagles on Saturday afternoon in Topeka starting at 2 p.m.
•    In its last game, the Ichabods topped the Ottawa Braves 97-76 on Tuesday in Lee Arena.
•    The Eagles are 1-3 this season and have not played since a 92-62 loss at former MIAA member Truman State on Nov. 19.
•    The game will count as an exhibition game for the Eagles.
•    The Eagles' win this season came in a 76-72 win over Manhattan Christian on Nov. 8 in Manhattan.
•    Washburn leads the series with the Eagles 9-0 going 7-0 in home games.
•    The Ichabods have recorded 30, 20-win seasons and four under Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard in his six seasons receiving four NCAA postseasons berths.
•    The 2023-24 season marks the 119th season of Ichabod basketball. •    Sam Ungashick leads four Ichabods averaging in double figures this season at 16.4 ppg while averaging 4.8 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game … he has reached double figures in four of the last five games.
•    Andrew Orr is scoring 12.8 ppg this season going a perfect 12 of 12 from the free throw line while shooting 55 percent from the field hitting 26 of 47 attempts.
•    Brady Christiansen is averaging 11.4 ppg with a team-high 7.6 rpg … he has hit at least one 3-pointer in each game this season.
•    Jack Bachelor is scoring 10.4 ppg off the bench adding 2.8 rpg and 3.4 apg this season … he had a season-high seven rebounds against Ottawa last time out.
•    Jake Schadegg is averaging 9.4 ppg shooting 11 of 21 from 3-point range.
•    Michael Keegan is scoring 5.6 ppg with 4.8 rpg and 1.2 bkpg coming off a season-high 10 points.
•    Emmanuel Byrd recorded a career-high nine points and eight rebounds in his last game against Ottawa … he is scoring 5.4 ppg adding 4.4 rpg.
•    Jarmell Johnson is averaging 4.8 ppg and 3.0 rpg scoring a season-best 13 points last time out.
•    Brayden Shorter is scoring 2.6 ppg and Zaid Dajani is scoring 2.4 ppg … Kevin Eman scored his first points as an Ichabod against Ottawa and Levi Braun saw his first action this season against the Braves.
•    The Ichabods are 11th in 3-point shooting in the national rankings at 43.6 percent hitting 44 of 101 attempts.
•    The 54 Ichabod rebounds recorded against Ottawa last time out in a Brett Ballard era record topping the 52 pulled down at Missouri Western on Jan. 9, 2021.
•    The 84 field goal attempts against Ottawa last time out was also a Ballard era high passing the 78 in the meeting with Ottawa on Nov. 25, 2017 … the mark was also only nine field goal attempts away from a school record set against Peru State in 1964.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD ...
•    is 121-66 in his seventh season as the Ichabods' head coach and 154-96 overall in his ninth year as a head coach.
•    has led the Ichabods to four NCAA postseason appearances in six 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.
•    he is 4-2 against Avila.
 
AVILA HEAD COACH TYLER BREDEHOEFT…
•    is in his first season as the Eagles' head coach.
•    comes from Rock Valley College where in three seasons as the head coach RVC posted a 64-35 overall record. With two Region IV Championships and a Final Four appearance. In all three seasons under Bredehoeft the Golden Eagles posted 20+ win seasons.
•    is 0-0 against the Ichabods.
  •    Avila is 1-3 this season and 0-2 in KCAC play.
•    James Ross III leads the team in scoring 11.5 ppg with 2.3 rpg.
•    As a team they are scoring 60.3 ppg allowing 80.3 ppg.
  •    Saturday's meeting will be the 10th all-time between the two schools.
•    Washburn has won all nine previous meetings.
•    Washburn topped Avila on Dec. 30, 2017 in the last meeting in a 79-61 win.
  (Dec. 30, 2018) TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team wrapped up the 2018 calendar year and its non-conference basketball schedule with a 96-64 win over Avila improving to 9-2 on the season. The Ichabods led from start to finish over Avila who lost to Central Missouri 86-71 on Dec. 29. Washburn jumped out to an 11-3 lead in the first 3:29 of the game and would go on to a 54-33 lead at the halftime break. Washburn shot 51 percent from the field hitting 6 of 14 3-pointers in the opening stanza while holding Avila to 39 percent shooting.
In the second half, the Ichabods increased its lead to 33 points in the contest with 4:13 to go at 92-59 cruising to the win.
Sevon Witt scored a career-high 19 points pacing six Ichabods in double figures. Witt was six of six from the field hitting 7 of 11 from the free throw line as the Ichabods were 19 of 25 from the stripe overall. David Salach had 16 while Tyas Martin had 15 with a career-high nine rebounds. Will McKee and Javion Blake each scored 11 and Devyn Wilson scored 10. The game marked Blake's 100th career start (in 100 games) at Washburn.
Brandon Phillips led Avila (1-10) with 16 points.
Washburn held a 49 to 25 advantage on the glass turning 15 offensive rebounds into 20 points and Washburn's bench outscored the Eagles 40 to 13. Washburn also had an 18 to 2 margin in fast break points and 46 to 30 in points in the paint.
Washburn finished the game 52 percent from the field hitting 34 of 65 shots while holding the Eagles to 25 of 61 overall at 41 percent.
  (Nov. 21, 2023) TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods put up 51 first-half points rolling to a 97-76 win over the Ottawa Braves on Tuesday night in Lee Arena.
The Ichabods led 51-35 at the break after shooting 46 percent from the field. Starting out the game, Ottawa took a 7-3 four minutes into the game, but after a Washburn timeout the Ichabods went on a 19-4 run building a 22-11 lead with 11:06 to play. Ottawa trimmed the lead back to six at 24-18 before a 13-2 spurt by Washburn (3-2) stretched the margin to 17 before taking the 16-point lead into the break.
Washburn led by as many as 32 in the second half with 5:11 to go in the game at 91-59 before Ottawa closed on a 17-4 run of its own hitting all five 3-point attempts cutting the difference to 19 with under two minutes to go.
Washburn was led by Sam Ungashick who paced five Ichabods in double figures with 16 points adding four assists. Jarmell Johnson had 13 with three steals followed by Andrew Orr with 12 and eight rebounds, Jack Bachelor's 11 points off the bench with seven boards and four assists. Michael Keegan had 10 points and five boards and Brady Christiansen finished with seven points and game-high 10 rebounds.
Washburn finished 45 percent from the field hitting 38 of 84 shots overall and 10 of 29 from deep. Ottawa was 27 of 60 overall and went 15 of 27 from 3-point range for a 56 percent clip. Washburn outrebounded the Braves (4-3) 54 to 29 overall and turned 19 offensive rebounds into 23 second chance points. Washburn also forced 18 Brave turnovers leading to 26 points.        •    The Ichabods are 1,661-1,125-2 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 677-317 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 489-102 (.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 being MIAA play on Dec. 2 at Emporia State. Washburn will then face Rogers State on Dec. 9 at home and then have road contests at Northwest Missouri on Dec. 13 and Dec. 16 at Missouri Western before wrapping up the 2023 calendar hosting Northeastern State on Dec. 19.