• The Washburn Ichabods will travel to Jefferson City, Mo. to face the Lincoln Blue Tigers on Thursday in a battle of teams from the Kansas and Missouri capital cities.
• The Ichabods are 12-12 and 9-9 coming off a 66-40 loss to No. 3 Northwest Missouri on Valentine's Day.
• Lincoln is 16-6 and 12-6 in the MIAA coming off a Feb. 11 win at Nebraska-Kearney in a 63-49 win.
• The Blue Tigers won the first meeting between the two teams on Jan. 7 in a 72-67 in Lee Arena.
• The Ichabods own a 33-5 all-time series record over the Blue Tigers.
• The Ichabods won 28 games in a row over the Blue Tigers from Jan. 24, 1990 to Dec. 18, 2017.
• The Ichabods have won the last 15 games in a row played in Jefferson City, Mo.
• The only loss by the Ichabods in Jefferson City came in the first meeting in a 93-80 win by the Blue Tigers on Dec. 18, 1957.
• 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 13.6 ppg while averaging 14.2 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 5.6 per game. Orr is 11th in the MIAA in scoring average and third in the MIAA in field goal percentage at 60 percent. Had a career-high four steals against Northwest.
• Tyler Nelson is averaging 11.5 ppg overall scoring 12.1 ppg in MIAA contests. He tied a career-high with 25 points against Nebraska-Kearney and has reached double digits in his last nine of his last 11 games averaging 15.5 ppg.
• Levi Braun is scoring 9.8 ppg and has hit 58 of 128 3-pointers (46 percent). He tied a career-high with seven rebounds against Missouri Western. Of his 77 field goals this season, 58 have been from 3-point range.
• Michael Keegan is scoring 8.1 ppg with 5.8 rpg with 20 steals and 19 blocks. He scored a career-high 21 points against Newman going 8 of 11 from the field adding nine rebounds. In MIAA games he is scoring 8.6 ppg with 5.8 rpg … he is seventh in the MIAA in blocks per game.
• Jarmell Johnson is scoring 7.9 ppg with 3.0 rpg. Johnson scoring 8.5 ppg with 3.3 rpg in MIAA games tying a season-high with 16 points at Newman scoring 11 last time out against Northwest.
• Connor Deffebaugh is scoring 7.4 ppg adding 3.0 assists per game. He is 10th in the MIAA in assists per game at 3.0.
• Brady Christiansen is scoring 5.5 adding 7.0 rpg which leads the team scoring a career-high 16 against Central Oklahoma. He is ranked fourth in the MIAA in rebounds. In MIAA games is he averaging 5.9 ppg with 6.7 rpg. This season, Christiansen has 168 rebounds, which is fourth on the Ichabod all-time freshman chart. His 7.0 rpg average would be fourth on the chart if the season ended today.
• Jaden Monday is scoring 5.5 ppg and has gone 22 of 68 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 116-61 in his sixth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 149-91 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 6-2 against Lincoln.
 
LINCOLN HEAD COACH JIMMY DREW
• is 16-6 in his first season as Lincoln's head coach.
• Drew came to LU following a six-year run on the staff at Division I Central Florida. Drew helped lead UCF to a pair of 20-win seasons and a berth in the second round of the NCAA tournament, and he coached three players who went on to play in the NBA.
• is 1-0 against Washburn.
  • Lincoln is 16-6 overall and 12-6 in MIAA games.
• Artese Stapleton is second in the MIAA in scoring at 17.5 ppg. Savon Witt is scoring 14.5 ppg with 7.7 rpg and Kevin Kone is adding 12.9 ppg with a league- and NCAA D2-leading 12.9 rpg.
• Lincoln is seventh in the MIAA in scoring average at 70.7 ppg and fourth in scoring defense allowing 62.0 ppg.
  (Jan. 7, 2023)  TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods had their second half rally come up short after trailing by 20 during the game in a 72-67 loss to Lincoln on Saturday in Lee Arena.
Washburn (5-8, 2-5 MIAA) trailed 43-29 at the break before a 6-0 run by the Ichabods closed the margin to 14. With 16:23 to go, Lincoln's Artese Stapleton hit a 3-pointer pushing the lead to 16 at 54-38, but the Ichabods would respond with a 14-2 run over the next 4:55 to cut the Blue Tiger lead to four at 56-52.
However, the Ichabods would go scoreless over the next 5:01 going 1 of 6 from the field as Lincoln (8-4, 4-4 MIAA) stretched its lead back to eight at 62-54 with 4:58 remaining. Washburn outscored the Blue Tigers 8-4 capped by a 3-pointer by Tyler Nelson with 58 seconds left cutting the lead back to 66-62 but the teams played basically even the rest of the way with the Blue Tigers outscoring the Ichabods 6-5 to hang on for the win.
Washburn was led by Nelson who scored a game-high 18 points. Levi Braun scored 16 and Michael Keegan had 13. Brady Christiansen had 11 rebounds with four offensive ones adding nine points. DJ Richardson led the Blue Tigers with 17.
Washburn finished 25 of 57 from the field while Lincoln was 24 of 54. The Blue Tigers hit 10 of 26 from 3-point range while the Ichabods were 4 of 18 overall. Lincoln outrebounded the Ichabods 36 to 31. Washburn scored 40 of its 67 points in the paint.
  • Thursday's meeting will be the 39th in the series history and Washburn leads 33-5.
• Washburn had won the last 28 meetings in the series which began on Dec. 18, 1957 with the Blue Tigers winning 93-80 until the Ichabods' 75-73 loss to the Blue Tigers on Jan. 31, 2019.
• Overall the Ichabods are 15-1 against Lincoln in Jefferson City all-time having won their last 15 games with the lone loss coming in 1957 in the first meeting in the series.
• In Topeka, the Ichabods are 16-3 .
• In neutral site games Washburn is 2-1.
• The teams have never met in the MIAA Tournament. (Feb. 14, 2023) TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team fell on Tuesday night to the No. 3/No. 4-ranked Northwest Missouri Bearcats in a 66-40 loss.
The Ichabods (12-12, 9-9 MIAA) trailed by as many as eight in the first half at 13-5 before going back and forth with the Bearcats (24-2, 17-2 MIAA) trimming the margin to two at 23-21 Northwest with 1:58 to play in the half before the Bearcats scored five straight points to take a 28-21 lead into the break.
Starting the second half, Washburn pulled within five on a layup by Michael Keegan but a 14-2 run over the next 6:10 of the game put the score out of reach as the Ichabods were held to a season-low 40 points in the loss.
Washburn was led by Jarmell Johnson off the bench with 11 points as the only Ichabod to reach double figures. Andrew Orr had eight points adding a career-high four steals.
Wes Dreamer led four Bearcats in double digits with a game-high 17 points.
Washburn struggled from field going 13 of 44 overall and 3 of 13 from deep. The Bearcats were 24 of 47 overall hitting 10 of 21 free throws while outrebounded the Ichabods 32 to 24.     • The Ichabods are 1,656-1120-2 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 672-314 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 485-102 (.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 be on the road at Central Missouri on Feb. 18 before returning home for the final time this season hosting Missouri Southern on Feb. 23 before ending the regular season at Emporia State on Feb. 25.