• The Washburn Ichabods return to the friendly confines of Lee Arena on Saturday for the first time in two weeks when they will play host to No. 6/No. 4 Central Oklahoma at 3 p.m.
• The Ichabods are 11-11 and 8-8 in the MIAA after shooting down the Newman Jets 95-61 last time out on Wednesday in Wichita.
• The Bronchos are 21-2 this season and sit atop of the MIAA standings with a 15-2 record.
• The Bronchos have not played since a 66-51 win over Fort Hays State on Feb. 4 in Edmond.
• UCO won the first meeting this season with the Ichabods 72-57 on Dec. 31 in Edmond.
• The Bronchos lead all-time series 19-18 wins after their win earlier this year.
• Washburn is 10-3 in games played in Lee Arena and have won the last six in Topeka.
• The Ichabods' last loss to UCO in Topeka was on Feb. 20, 2016 in a 71-60 Broncho win.
• 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 2022-23 season marks the 118th season of Ichabod basketball. • Andrew Orr leads the Ichabods in scoring at 13.9 ppg while averaging 14.6 ppg in MIAA contests. Orr recorded his second double double of the season against Newman when he had 14 points and 10 rebounds. He is third on the team in rebounds at 5.9 per game. Orr is 11th in the MIAA in scoring average and third in the MIAA in field goal percentage at 61 percent going 43 of 58 from the field in his last five games.
• Tyler Nelson is averaging 12.2 ppg overall scoring 12.9 ppg in MIAA contests. He tied a career-high with 25 points against Nebraska-Kearney and has reached double digits in his last eight of his last nine games averaging 15.7 ppg.
• Levi Braun is scoring 9.7 ppg and has hit 52 of 119 3-pointers (44 percent). He tied a career-high with seven rebounds against Missouri Western last week. Of his 70 field goals this season, 52 have been from 3-point range.
• Michael Keegan is scoring 8.6 ppg with 6.0 rpg with 20 steals and 18 blocks. He is coming off a season-high 21 points against Newman going 8 of 11 from the field adding nine rebounds. In MIAA games he is scoring 9.4 ppg with 5.8 rpg … he is seventh in the MIAA in blocks per game.
• Connor Deffebaugh is scoring 8.2 ppg adding 3.0 assists per game He is 10th in the MIAA in assists per game at 3.0.
• Jarmell Johnson is scoring 7.7 ppg with 3.0 rpg. Johnson scoring 8.2 ppg with 3.3 rpg in MIAA games tying a season-high with 16 points at Newman.
• Brady Christiansen is scoring 5.2 adding 7.2 rpg which leads the team. He is ranked third fourth in the MIAA in rebounds. In MIAA games is he averaging 5.6 ppg with 7.0 rpg. This season, Christiansen has 159 rebounds, which is sixth on the Ichabod all-time freshman chart. His 7.2 rpg average would be fourth on the chart if the season ended today.
• Jaden Monday is scoring 5.2 ppg and has gone 21 of 60 from 3-point range this season.
• Jordan Vincent is scoring 4.5 ppg with 1.1 rpg and 2.0 apg. He has gone 18 of 23 from the free throw line this season.
• Zaid Dajani is scoring 2.6 ppg in 17 appearances.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
• is 115-60 in his sixth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 148-90 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 5-6 against Central Oklahoma.
 
CENTRAL OKLAHOMA HEAD COACH BOB HOFFMAN
• is 68-39 in his fourth season as the Bronchos' head coach and 587-360 in his 29th year overall as a head coach.
• went to UCO from Mercer, where he led the Bears of Macon, Ga. to 209 wins in his 11-year stint there.
• Hoffman won 209 games at Mercer from 2008-19, including 119 conference games. He led the Bears to its first ever NCAA Tournament win in 2014 – a major upset of Duke in the opening round of March Madness. And he also became the first coach in NCAA history to win a tournament game in all four Division I postseason tournaments in a four-year span.
• is 3-3 against Washburn.
  • UCO is 21-2 this season, ranked No. 6 in the country in the latest national coaches' poll, and No. 4 in the country in the latest national media poll. UCO is also 15-2 in the MIAA and in first place in the league standings with three weeks left in the season.
• This weekend, the Bronchos head to Washburn averaging 77.6 points per game on the season. UCO shoots 46.6 percent from the floor, 35.1 percent from behind the 3-point line, and 76.2 percent from the free-throw line. Central Oklahoma averages 7.6 made 3-pointers per game and an even 17.0 made free-throws per game.
• Leading the Bronchos this season is third-year sophomore guard Jaden Wells, who averages 17.9 points per game. Wells is one of the best shooters in the country. He his shooting 46 percent overall, 44.6 percent from behind the 3-point line, and 88.4 percent from the free-throw line. Wells is third in the MIAA in both total 3-pointers made (61) and makes per game (3.0). He also averages 4.4 rebounds per game and 1.5 steals per game through 22 games this season.
  (Dec. 31, 2022)  EDMOND, Okla. – The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team was on the wrong end of a New Year's Eve match-up with No. 9-ranked Central Oklahoma falling 72-57 on the road inside Hamilton Fieldhouse. Washburn will return to action on Jan. 5 hosting Central Missouri in Lee Arena.
The Ichabods led at 3-0 on a 3-pointer by Michael Keegan 14 seconds into the game and Washburn (4-7, 1-4 MIAA) and after a lay-up by Andrew Orr with 16:27 to go in the first half handing the Ichabods a 10-8 lead, UCO (12-1, 6-1 MIAA) outscored the Ichabods 32-5 the remaining of the frame leading to a 40-19 Broncho lead entering the break. During the run, the Ichabods struggled from the field going 2 of 15 while UCO hit 11 of 19 shots taking the lead into the halftime break.
Washburn outscored the Bronchos 38-32 in the second half shooting 59 percent in the stanza but could not overcome the halftime deficit.
Levi Braun led the Ichabods with 17 points off the bench hitting 5 of 7 3-pointers going 6 of 9 from the field overall. Keegan and Orr each had 15.
Jaden Wells had 18 to take game-high honors pacing UCO.                    
Washburn finished 23 of 51 from the field hitting 8 of 16 attempts from 3-point range, but went 3 of 11 from the free throw line. UCO was 25 of 50 overall and 14 of 30 hitting 8 of 12 shots from the free throw line.
UCO also held a 35 to 26 advantage on the glass. UCO also flipped the Ichabods' 17 turnovers into 27 points while Washburn scored seven off of the Bronchos' seven points.
  • Saturday's meeting will be the 38th in the series history which UCO leads 19-18.
• Washburn has won eight of the last 12 meetings.
• The Ichabods lost the first match up as MIAA schools on Jan. 5, 2013 in a 72-67 loss in Edmond and in the MIAA tournament quarterfinals on March 3, 2013 in a 99-88 defeat in Kansas City.
• Washburn's two highest-scoring combined games in school history came against UCO. In 1992 the two teams scored 246 points (132-114, UCO) and in 1998 they scored 218 points (111-107, UCO).
• In the Jan. 13, 2018 meeting, the 49 points was the fewest by the Ichabods in a win in the shot clock era and the 96 combined points were the second fewest scored by Washburn and its opponent in the shot clock era.
• In 37 games, the Ichabods have averaged 76.5 points per game with the Bronchos.
• WU has scored at least 100 points against UCO three times and the Bronchos have done so twice. (Feb. 8, 2023) WICHITA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods used a 25-0 run over a six-minute stretch rolling to a 95-61 win over Newman on Wednesday night in Fuguate Gymnasium.
After the Jets took a 6-4 lead with 18:01 to go, the Ichabods (11-11, 8-8 MIAA) ripped off the big-time run going 10 of 14 during the stretch including 4 of 6 from deep while the Jets were at the other end of the spectrum going 0 of 10 from the field and 0 of 5 from deep.
Washburn would lead by as many as 33 in the opening half taking a 49-30 lead into the break.
To start the second half, the Ichabods kept the pedal down outscoring the Jets (7-16, 3-14 MIAA) 12-2 to start the half and never looked back leading by as many as 38  in the second half.
Michael Keegan and Tyler Nelson led the Ichabods with 21 points each. It was a career-high in points for Keegan and Andrew Orr finished with a double double scoring 14 points adding 10 rebounds and five assists. Also in double figures were Jarmell Johnson with 16 and Jaden Monday with 11.
Latik Murphy had 17 to lead the Jets.
Washburn held the Jets to 18 of 60 shooting for a 30 percent clip while the Ichabods finished 36 of 62 (58 percent) hitting 10 of 26 3-pointers in the game (39 percent). Washburn also outrebounded the Jets 43 to 28 and had 20 assists on 36 buckets.
Washburn outscored the Jets 48 to 16 in the paint and 21 to 8 in fastbreak points.   • The Ichabods are 1655-1119-2 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 671-314 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.
  • The Ichabods will return to action in Lee Arena on Feb. 14 facing Northwest Missouri 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.