• The Washburn Ichabods will wrap up their brief two-game road trip through the Show-Me State on Saturday facing Central Missouri at 3 p.m. in the UCM Multipurpose Building.
• The Ichabods are 12-13 and 9-10 coming off a 64-58 loss at Lincoln snapping a 15-game road winning streak over the Blue Tigers.
• Central Missouri fell in overtime to Emporia State on Thursday night in a 68-66 loss in Warrensburg.
• The Ichabods have won the last six in the series against the Mules and lead the overall series 57-52.
• Washburn is 17-30 against the Mules in Warrensburg but have won three of the last four and two straight.
• The Mules' last win in the series was on Feb. 1, 2020 in a 59-56 win over the Ichabods in Warrensburg.
• 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 14.1 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 and has hit double figure scoring in eight of his last nine games.
• Tyler Nelson is averaging 11.6 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 9 of his last 12 games averaging 14.7 ppg.
• Levi Braun is scoring 9.4 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.
• Jarmell Johnson is scoring 8.0 ppg with 3.2 rpg. Johnson scoring 8.6 ppg with 3.3 rpg in MIAA games tying a season-high with 16 points at Newman scoring 11 last time out against Northwest. He has reached double figures in four of the last five games averaging 12.0 ppg.
• Michael Keegan is scoring 8.0 ppg with 5.6 rpg with 20 steals and 20 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 8.4 ppg with 5.4 rpg … he is seventh in the MIAA in blocks per game.
• Connor Deffebaugh is scoring 7.1 ppg adding 3.0 assists per game.
• Jaden Monday is scoring 5.5 ppg and has gone 22 of 68 from 3-point range this season.
• Brady Christiansen is scoring 5.4 adding 6.8 rpg which leads the team scoring a career-high 16 against Central Oklahoma. He is ranked fifth in the MIAA in rebounds. In MIAA games is he averaging 5.8 ppg with 6.4 rpg. This season, Christiansen has 171 rebounds, which is fourth on the Ichabod all-time freshman chart. His 6.8 rpg average would be fifth on the chart if the season ended today.
• Jordan Vincent is scoring 4.1 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.
• Jake Schadegg has scored 10 points appearing in seven games while Emmanuel Byrd has scored eight points in six games. Zach Davidson has played in seven games and Kevin Eman has appeared in two.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
• is 116-62 in his sixth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 149-92 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 8-2 against Central Missouri.
 
CENTRAL MISSOURI HEAD COACH DOUG KARLESKINT
• is 135-116 in his ninth season as the head coach at Central Missouri and 223-150 overall in his 13th season as a head coach.
• spent five seasons at Arkansas Tech, including the last four as head coach.
• has compiled a 90-34 (.726) record with the Wonder Boys with four conference championships and four trips to the NCAA-II National Tournament, including a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2012.
• is 4-10 against Washburn.
  • The Mules are 11-14 overall and 7-12 in the MIAA after falling in overtime on Thursday night to Emporia State 68-66. Central Missouri had two players finish in double figures including guard Garrett Luinstra (game-high 19 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals) and redshirt sophomore Mikel Henderson (15 points, two rebounds and two assists).
• Mikel Henderson leads the team in scoring averaging 12.3 ppg and Gaven Pinkley is scoring 12.2 ppg
• The Mules are averaging 68.0 ppg while allowing 65.5 ppg.
  (Jan. 5, 2023)  TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team used a 16-5 run over the first 7:16 of the second half turning a four-point halftime deficit into a 55-47 come from behind win over Central Missouri in one of the lowest scoring games in the shot clock era in program history.
Starting the game, the Ichabods (5-7, 2-4 MIAA) fell behind 6-0 before Levi Braun jump started the scoring with seven-straight points on a pair of three-pointers including a four-point play. After the Braun scoring spurt, the Mules (7-6, 3-5 MIAA) ripped off a 13-0 run to take a 19-7 lead with 12:11 to play in the first half. Washburn would get no closer than five the rest of the half as UCM took a 27-21 lead into the break.
Starting the second half, the Ichabods and Mules traded baskets and then a 14-3 run over a 6:00 period pushed Washburn's lead to 37-32 with 12:04 to go. Central evened the score at 43 with 6:01 to go in the game after a 3-point play by Jack Chapman.
After the media time out, Andrew Orr connected on a free throw and Brady Christiansen hit a layup pushing the lead back to three at 46-43. Two more Mule free throws trimmed the Washburn advantage back to one with 4:05 to go but the Ichabods outscored the Mules 9 to 2 the rest of the way going 7 of 8 from the free throw line securing the eight-point win.
Orr led the Ichabods with 20 points on 8 of 12 shooting adding seven rebounds. Braun finished with 10 points and Christiansen secured 15 rebounds with 12 on the defensive end adding six points. Michael Keegan had seven points with four assists.
Kobe Campbell led the Mules with 15 points.
Washburn held the Mules to 26 percent shooting in the second half as UCM was 6 of 23 and 1 of 9 from 3-point range en route to 15 of 51 shooting in the game for UCM for a 29 percent clip. The ichabods after going 8 of 25 in the opening half, finished the game going 10 of 22 for a 46 percent average finishing 18 of 47 overall for a 38 percent average. The Ichabods were also 15 of 19 from the free throw line in the game.
Washburn was outrebounded 34 to 33 in the game and forced 14 Mule turnovers. The Ichabods also had a 26 to 12 advantage in the paint.
The 102 combined points in the game ties the program record in the shot clock era for the fifth-fewest combined points match a 102 total ironically enough with Central Missouri in the same score on Dec. 31, 2010. The 55 points scored by the Ichabods is the second-lowest in program history in the shot clock era for points scored in a win and the 47 points scored by the Mules is the 10th-lowest points allowed in an Ichabod win.
  • Saturday's meeting will be the 110th between these two teams.
• The Ichabods have won the last six in the series and lead it 57-52 overall.
• Washburn is 35-19 against the Mules in Topeka.
• The Mules' last win in the series was on Feb. 1, 2020 in a 59-56 win over the Ichabods.
• The Mules' have not won in Topeka since a 63-55 win over Washburn on Jan. 27, 2018 - a losing streak of five games.
• The Ichabods have won 15 of the last 21 meetings.
• The last time the teams met in the conference tournament was during the 2010 season when the Ichabods as the No. 8 seed topped the No. 1-seeded Mules 79-60.
• The Ichabods are 5-1 all-time against Central Missouri in the MIAA Tournament. (Feb. 16, 2023) JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. –Washburn had its 15-game winning streak in Jefferson City in a 64-58 loss as the Ichabods struggled from 3-point range going 2 of 12 overall and 0 of 8 in the first half as Lincoln picked up the win. Washburn returns to action on Saturday at Central Missouri in Warrensburg.
The Ichabods (12-13, 9-10 MIAA) trailed 29-18 at the break after struggling from the field going 7 of 27 from the field including 0 of 8 from deep while the Blue Tigers hit 10 of 25 shots and 4 of 13 building their largest lead of as many 11 entering the half. In the opening stanza, the Ichabod starters were 4 of 17 with two field goals each from Andrew Orr and Tyler Nelson who had four points each.
Coming out of the half, Nelson connected on a 3-pointer and Jayden Monday had a breakaway layup cutting the lead to six at 29-23 in favor of Lincoln (17-6, 13-6 MIAA). Washburn cut the lead to four after another bucket by Nelson as Washburn trailed 33-29 with 14:54 to go at the first media timeout of the second half.
The Ichabods came up empty on four-straight possessions trailing by four or five points and after a free throw and a basket, Lincoln led 39-31 with 10:42 to play leading to an Ichabod timeout. After the timeout, Lincoln hit two more free throws to go back up 10.
Washburn chipped away cutting the margin to six with 7:54 to go at 44-38 on a traditional 3-point play by Orr.  Lincoln pushed its lead back to nine at 50-41 with 5:19 to go. A jumper by Nelson cut the lead to seven with 4:21 remaining entering the final media timeout.
The teams traded turnovers and after a 3-pointer by the Ichabods, Orr hit a layup in the paint with 3:10 to go as the Ichabods trailed 53-45. Orr hit another shot with 2:12 to go trimming the lead back to six, but the Blue Tigers came back with a bucket of their own pushing the margin back to eight. However Jarmell Johnson had a driving layup putting the difference back to six again at 55-49 with 1:23 to play.
After a timeout, the Blue Tigers hit a 3-pointer stretching the lead back to nine at 58-49 with 1:15 to play and Washburn would not get any closer than five with 14 seconds left on a 3-pointer by Michael Keegan.
Washburn was led by Nelson and Orr with 13 points each and Johnson scored 11 off the bench.
Sam Rautins led the Blue Tigers with 15 points going 4 of 6 from deep.
Washburn finished 24 of 54 from the field for a 44 percent clip, but was only 2 of 12 from deep. The Ichabods were 8 of 13 from the free throw line. The Blue Tigers finished 18 of 48 from the field (38 percent) but were 7 of 22 from deep and hit 21 of 34 free throws attempting 21 more from the charity stripe.
Washburn was outrebounded 40 to 31 on the glass as Lincoln had 12 offensive rebounds gaining 11 second chance points. Washburn outscored Lincoln 32 to 20 in the paint.    • The Ichabods are 1,656-1121-2 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 672-315 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 in Lee Arena for the final time this season hosting Missouri Southern on Feb. 23 before ending the regular season at Emporia State on Feb. 25.