•    The Washburn Ichabods will play their first MIAA game of the season on Saturday when they will play host to Rogers State at 3 p.m. in Lee Arena.
•    Washburn (4-3, 0-1 MIAA) is coming off a 71-69 loss at Emporia State in its conference opener on Dec. 2.
•    The Hillcats are 3-2 and 2-0 in the MIAA after losing at Emporia State on Wednesday 85-74.
•    The Hillcats two MIAA wins were over Nebraska-Kearney (79-68) and Fort Hays State (76-63) at home Nov. 30 and Dec. 2 respectively.
•    The Ichabods lead the all-time series with the Hillcats 5-3 winning the last meeting in Topeka on Jan. 26, 2023 in a 78-67 victory.
•    The Ichabods have recorded 30, 20-win seasons and four under Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard in his six seasons receiving four NCAA postseason berths.
•    The 2023-24 season marks the 119th season of Ichabod basketball. •    Sam Ungashick leads three Ichabods averaging in double figures this season at 16.1 ppg while averaging 4.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.3 steals per game … he has reached double figures in each of the last six games … his 23 field goal attempts against Emporia State were the most by an Ichabod player in the Brett Ballard era.
•    Andrew Orr is scoring 15.0 ppg this season going 23 of 24 from the free throw line while shooting 60 percent from the field hitting 41 of 68 attempts … he's 15 of 21 in the last two games from the field.
•    Brady Christiansen is averaging 9.3 ppg with a team-high 8.0 rpg … he's averaging 9.0 rpg in the last three contests.
•    Jack Bachelor is scoring 8.3 ppg off the bench adding 2.4 rpg and 3.1 apg this season … he has had at least four assists in four games this season and has hit 7 of 13 3-pointers.
•    Jarmell Johnson is averaging 7.6 ppg and 3.9 rpg … he has reached double figures in each of the last three games averaging 14.0 ppg on 16 of 28 shooting from the field.
•    Jake Schadegg is averaging 7.6 ppg shooting 11 of 22 from 3-point range.
•    Emmanuel Byrd is scoring 5.9 ppg adding 4.4 rpg averaging 7.3 ppg and 6.7 rpg in the last three games.
•    Michael Keegan is scoring 5.4 ppg with 4.6 rpg and 1.3 bkpg.
•    Brayden Shorter is averaging 3.9 ppg with 1.7 rpg.
•    Zaid Dajani is scoring 2.4 ppg … Kevin Eman scored his first points as an Ichabod against Ottawa and Levi Braun is scoring 1.5 ppg in two appearances.
•    The Ichabods ranked eighth in the nation in defensive rebounds per game leading the MIAA with 30.3 per game.
•    The Ichabods are 15th in 3-point shooting in the national rankings at 41.4 percent hitting 56 of 134 attempts.
•    The Ichabods lead the MIAA in scoring averaging 82.1 ppg and ranked ninth in scoring defense allowing 72.4 ppg.
•    Washburn's 49.9 field goal percentage is second in the MIAA and its 40.5 defensive field goal percentage is ranked third.
•    Washburn is second in the MIAA with a 42 percent shooting rate from 3-point range and they ranked 12th in opponent 3-point shooting percentage at 37 percent with opponents hitting 62 of 166.
•    Washburn is +9.9 in rebounding margin this season leading the MIAA while leading the MIAA in total rebounds at 40.9 per game.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD ...
•    is 122-67 in his seventh season as the Ichabods' head coach and 155-97 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 5-3 against Rogers State.
 
ROGERS STATE HEAD COACH JUSTIN BARKLEY ...
•    is 253-136 in his 13th 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 3-5 against the Ichabods.
  •    Rogers State is 3-3, 2-1 in the MIAA.
•    The Hillcats are leading the MIAA in field goal percentage.
•    Rodney Battle is their leading scorer at 15.4 points per game.
  •    Saturday's meeting with the Hillcats will be only the ninth between the two schools with the Ichabods leading the series 5-3.
•    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 4-0 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. 26, 2023) TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods won their fourth game in a row and their fourth in a row over Rogers State in Lee Arena as the Ichabods defeated the Hillcats 78-67 on Thursday night.
Rogers State scored the first points of the game but a 7-2 run by the Ichabods took the lead back for good as the Ichabods led from start to finish taking a 38-25 lead into the break after hitting 13 of 26 shots and 5 of 12 from deep holding Rogers State (11-9, 7-7 MIAA) to 8 of 31 shooting in the first 20 minutes. Washburn (9-9, 6-6 MIAA) led by as many as 16 in the opening half.
Starting the second half, the teams traded baskets but using a 6-0 run the Hillcats cut the Washburn advantage to eight at 43-35 with 16:12 to go. Washburn stretched the lead back to 14 at 51-37 on back-to-back buckets by Andrew Orr, who scored 12 of his game-high 20 points in the second half.
The Hillcats then used a 14-2 run over the next 4:07 to cut Washburn's lead to 53-51 with 9:39 to play, but on the Ichabods' next possession, Brady Christian connected on the first of his three second half 3-pointers pushing the lead back to five. The Hillcats cut the lead back to two but then Orr scored his 15th and 16th points of the night. The Hillcats scored again, but Orr connected on a hook shot to push the margin back to four at 61-57.
For the third time the Hillcats cut the lead back to two at 61-59 with 6:23 to play, but Orr's final points of the night on a jumper pushed the lead back to four and Christian hit a 3-pointer with 4:07 to play as the lead moved to seven. Rogers State would get the lead to five once more, but would not get any closer than six the final 1:56 of the game as Christian hit his third 3-pointer of the game as the Ichabods were a perfect 5 of 5 from the free throw line the rest of the way to seal the win.
Orr led four total Ichabods in double digits followed by Michael Keegan's 16 points, Tyler Nelson's 13 and Levi Braun's 11 points. Orr had seven rebounds and Christiansen finished with nine points and six rebounds.
Joe Saracco led the Hillcats with 14 points adding eight rebounds.
Washburn finished 27 of 53 for the game at 50.9 percent shooting while Rogers State improved to 46 percent for the game after going 18 of 26 from the field in the second half.
Washburn outrebounded the Hillcats 38 to 26 in the game with 10 offensive rebounds. 
  (Dec. 2, 2023) EMPORIA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team fell in its season opener 71-69 at Emporia State.
Washburn trailed 38-27 with 1:30 to go in the first half, but closed on a 7-0 run to enter the locker rooms down 38-32. Washburn then used a 10-2 run over the next 3:23 to take a 42-41 lead.
Washburn (4-3, 0-1 MIAA) led 50-45 with 12:18 to go after an Emmanuel Byrd scored eight-straight points. Then the Hornets scored seven of their next eight points from the free throw line cutting the Ichabod lead to one with 8:04 to go.
Washburn and Emporia State wet back and forth over their three possessions. A pair of free throws by Sam Ungashick pushed Washburn back in front at 60-59 with 5:47 to lay.  The Hornets built their lead back to three at 64-61, but again the Ichabods came back to go back in front at 65-64 on a driving lay-up by Jarmell Johnson.
Andrew Orr scored his 16th point of the game with 55 seconds to play putting the Ichabods back up 69-66, but a four-point play by Owen Long tied the score up and ESU hit two free throws wrapping up the win.
Ungashick led the Ichabods with 21 points leading three total Ichabods in double figures with Orr scoring 16 and Johnson scoring 14. Brady Christiansen had 12 rebounds. Long scored 22 to lead the Hornets.
The Ichabods outshot the Hornets 42 percent to 35 percent hitting 25 of 60 overall compared to 17 of 48 by Emporia State (7-1, 1-0 MIAA). However the Hornets were 32 of 40 from the free throw line while the Ichabods were 16 of 18 overall. Washburn also had a 47 to 24 advantage on the glass.
Overall there were 12 lead changes and six ties in the game.        •    The Ichabods are 1,662-1,126-2 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 678-318 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 490-102 (.848) all-time in Lee Arena.
•    The 2023-24 season marks the 38th season of play in Lee Arena.
•    The Ichabods are 38-1 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 hit the road for 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.