• The Washburn Ichabods look to rebound after an overtime loss at Missouri Western on Feb. 1 when they will take on the No. 4/No. 6 ranked Northwest Missouri Bearcats at 3 p.m. on Saturday in Maryville.
• The Ichabods are 10-10 and 7-7 in the MIAA after the loss to the Griffons.
• The Bearcats (20-2, 13-2 MIAA) topped Emporia State 63-52 on Thursday in Maryville.
• Saturday's meeting is the first of the season between the two teams with the second coming 10 days later on Valentine's Day in Topeka.
• Washburn leads the series 63-53 with Northwest Missouri winning the last two.
• Washburn won last season's meeting in Maryville 60-59 when Tyler Nelson hit a 3-pointer as time expired.
• Overall the Ichabods have won three straight in Bearcat Arena winning 60-59 on Feb. 19, 2022, on March 6, 2021 in a 69-68 win in the MIAA Tournament courtesy of Tyler Geiman's buzzer beater and 84-82 in overtime on Jan. 7, 2021.
• Northwest has gone 81-9 over the last three season with Washburn handing the Bearcats three of those losses going 3-5 in eight meetings.
• 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 Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team was tabbed fourth in both the MIAA Preseason Coaches and MIAA Preseason Media polls announced Oct. 11 by the conference at the annual Basketball Media Day held at the College Basketball Experience in Kansas City
• The 2022-23 season marks the 118th season of Ichabod basketball. • Andrew Orr leads the Ichabods in scoring at 13.7 ppg while averaging 14.5 ppg in MIAA contests. He is coming off a career-high 26 points at Missouri Western last time out. He is third on the team in rebounds at 5.8 per game. He recorded his first Washburn double double against Emporia State with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Orr is 11th in the MIAA in scoring average and third in the MIAA in field goal percentage at 60 percent going 31 of 41 from the field in his last three games.
• Tyler Nelson is averaging 12.0 ppg overall scoring 12.7 ppg in MIAA contests. He tied a career-high with 25 points against Nebraska-Kearney and has reached double digits in his last seven games averaging 15.8 ppg.
• Levi Braun is scoring 10.5 ppg and has hit 51 of 113 3-pointers (45 percent). He tied a career-high with seven rebounds against Missouri Western last time out. Of his 68 field goals this season, 51 have been from 3-point range.
• Connor Deffebaugh is scoring 9.1 ppg adding 3.3 assists per game missing the seven games with an injury returning on Jan. 28 against Northeastern State and is 10th in the MIAA in assists per game at 3.4.
• Michael Keegan is scoring 8.4 ppg with 5.8 rpg with 18 steals and 17 blocks. In MIAA games he is scoring 9.2 ppg with 5.5 rpg … he is seventh in the MIAA in blocks per game.
• Jarmell Johnson is scoring 6.8 ppg with 3.1 rpg. Johnson scoring 7.1 ppg with 3.6 rpg in MIAA games.
• Brady Christiansen is scoring 5.6 adding 7.7 rpg which leads the team. He is ranked third in the MIAA in rebounds. In MIAA games is he averaging 6.1 ppg with 7.6 rpg. This season, Christiansen has 153 rebounds, which is sixth on the Ichabod all-time freshman chart. His 7.7 rpg average would be second on the chart if the season ended today.
• Jaden Monday is scoring 5.2 ppg and has gone 18 of 54 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 16 appearances.
  • The Ichabods are 0-9 when opponents score at least 71 points this season.
• 100-12 … Washburn's record under head coach Brett Ballard when leading with 5:00 to go in the game.
• 9-2 … Washburn's record under head coach Brett Ballard this season when leading with 5:00 to go in the game.
• 58.4 … The average number of points per game the Ichabods have allowed in the 10 wins.
• 77.2 … The average number of points per game the Ichabods have allowed in the 10 losses.
• 49.7 … The shooting percentage of Ichabod opponents in the nine losses (270 of 543).
• 38 … The shooting percentage of Ichabod opponents in the 10 wins.
• 4 … The number of Ichabods averaging double figures in the 10  wins.
• 2 … The number of Ichabods averaging double figures in the nine losses.
• 27 … The shooting percentage of Ichabod opponents from 3-point range in the 10 wins (59 of 119).
• 36.5 … The shooting percentage of Ichabod opponents from 3-point range in the 10 losses (81 of 222).
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD
• is 114-59 in his sixth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 147-89 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 3-13 against Northwest Missouri.
 
NORTHWEST MISSOURI HEAD COACH BEN MCCOLLUM
• is 354-85 in his 14th season as the Bearcats' head coach.
• is a 2003 graduate of Northwest Missouri.
• named the 20th head coach in Bearcat history.
• played for Northwest going 51-12 in two seasons including a 29-3 mark during a run to the NCAA Elite Eight during the 2001-02 season.
• is the first five-time NABC Division II National Coach of the Year and a seven-time MIAA Coach of the Year.
• led Northwest to the 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022 NCAA National Championship.
• is 20-10  against the Ichabods.
  • The Bearcats are 20-2 and ranked No. 4 in the latest NABC Top 25 poll.
• Northwest has captured 11 consecutive home wins in a row, which ranks tied for the 10th-longest active win streak in Div. II. Northwest is 10-0 at home this season in Bearcat Arena. The Bearcats won their last home game of the 2021-22 season.
• Diego Bernard leads the team in scoring at 17.6 ppg with a team-high 5.1 rebounds per game recently going over the 2,000-point mark in scoring.
• Bennett Stirtz is scoring 12.4 ppg followed by Luke Waters at 10.5 ppg and Wes Dreamer at 9.8 ppg.
• The Bearcats are averaging 75.6 ppg while allowing 57.5 ppg.
  (March 13, 2022)  SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Washburn Ichabod basketball season came to end in the NCAA Central Regional semifinals with a 70-55 loss to Northwest Missouri in their fourth meeting of the season. Washburn finishes the season 22-11.
Offensively the Ichabods were limited in the first half as they were held to 9 of 28 shooting with six of their nine field goals coming from 3-point range. The Bearcats took the 41-27 lead into the break after hitting 12 of 22 shots overall going 7 of 10 from the 3-point range and hitting 10 of 11 free throws. Washburn trailed by as many as 21 in the opening half before cutting the margin to 14 before the half.
In the second half, the Ichabods trimmed the lead down to four at 46-42 with 10:06 to play on a layup by Jalen Lewis capping an 9-1 Ichabod run with a traditional 3-point play. However on the Bearcats (30-5) next possession, Luke Walters connected on a 3-pointer pushing the difference to seven, but a Jonny Clausing layup cut the lead to five at 49-45 with 7:21 to go.
The Bearcats then would connect on a 3-pointer and an Ichabod foul on the attempt away from the shot gave Northwest Missouri two more free throws doubling the Ichabod deficit. Washburn again came back to hit a pair of jumpers and cut the lead to six on a layup by Michael Keegan at 54-48 but the Ichabods did not get any closer.
Keegan led the Ichabods with 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting hitting 1 of 2 3-point attempts. Lewis had 14 points and Clausing finished with 10 points adding a team-high six rebounds. Tyler Geiman dished out nine assists.
Diego Bernard scored 18 to take game-high honors as Wes Dreamer scored 16 and Isaiah Jackson had 13.
Washburn finished the game shooting 22 of 54 from the field and 7 of 22 from deep hitting four of six shots from the free throw line. Northwest hit 41 percent from the field going 18 of 44 with 9 of 21 from deep and 25 of 28 from the free throw line.
  • Saturday's meeting will be the 117th between the two schools and Washburn holds a 63-53 lead in the series.
• The series dates back to the 1940-41 season and they have played each other every year since WU joined the MIAA in 1989-90.
• The Ichabods are 21-15 against the Bearcats in Lee Arena.
• Washburn is 25-25 in Maryville and the Ichabods are 33-26 in MIAA contests.
• In the MIAA Tournament, the Ichabods are 4-8 against Northwest after falling in the 2018, 2019 and 2022 MIAA Championship games before winning the 2021 Tournament in Maryville.
• In the NCAA Tournament, the Ichabods are 2-3 against the Bearcats.
• The Ichabods won a regional final contest against the Bearcats in Topeka on March 10, 2001 advancing to the Elite Eight in Bakersfield, California after a 67-61 win. (Feb. 1, 2023) ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The Washburn Ichabods' five-game winning streak came to a halt in an 81-80 overtime loss at Missouri Western on Wednesday.
In overtime, the Griffons scored first but a pair of free throws by Andrew Orr tied the score at 71 with 4:32 to play. Missouri Western went up by four after two lay ups but a 3-pointer by Braun cut the lead to 75-74. Western pushed the advantage back to three, but Orr went was fouled and went back to the line with 2:34 cutting the lead back to one at 77-76.
Washburn took the lead at 80-79 with 11 seconds to go on Andrew Orr's career-high 25th and 26th points of the night, but Western scored on a jumper with two seconds to go going up 81-80. After a timeout, Washburn needed to go the length of the court with 2.5 seconds to go and the shot from inside the lane came up short.
The Ichabods trailed at the break 34-30 after going the final two-plus minutes without a point after leading by as many as 10 in the opening 20 minutes. Washburn led by 10 at 17-7 with 12:50 to go after a bucket by Tyler Nelson.
Midway through the first half, the Griffons went on a 15 to 7 run taking a 30-27. After a 3-point play by Michael Keegan tied the score at 30 with 2:38 to go but the Griffons finished with back-to-back layups to take the four-point lead into the locker rooms.
Coming out of the break, the Ichabods scored eight-straight with six coming from Andrew Orr as Washburn took a 38-34 lead.
After a flagrant foul called on the Griffons, Jarmell Johnson would hit a free throw and then Orr scored on two straight possessions as the Ichabods went up 44-41 with 12:31 to play.
With Washburn leading 65-55 with 3:04 to go in the game, the Griffons closed the game on a 14-4 run as the Ichabods' halfcourt shot at the buzzer was off.
Orr led all scorers with his 26 points on 10 of 13 shooting scoring 21 points in the second half while going 6 of 8 from the free throw line. As a team the Ichabods were 14 of 22 from the free throw line and 6 of 13 in the second half. Braun scored 19 hitting five 3-pointers and Nelson finished with 18.
JaRon Thames led the Griffons with 21 points.
Washburn finished 30 of 36 from the field for the game for a 47 percent average. The Ichabods finished 6 of 20 from deep and 14 of 22 overall from the free throw line going 6 of 6 in the extra frame.
Missouri Western was 32 of 67 overall and 7 of 21 from deep hitting 10 of 11 free throws in the game and 2 of 2 in overtime.
The Ichabods outrebounded the Griffons 38 to 34.   • The Ichabods are 1654-1118-2 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 670-313 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.
  • Washburn will continue its road trip at Newman on Feb. 8. The Ichabods will then be in action in Lee Arena on Feb. 11 facing Central Oklahoma and Northwest Missouri on Feb. 14 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.