•    The Washburn Ichabods will start the final leg of their four-game road trip as they will head to the Sooner State to face Rogers State on Thursday in Claremore before finishing off the week with Northeastern State on Saturday in Tahlequah.
•    The Ichabods will not be in action at home until Feb. 7 against Missouri Western.
•    Washburn (13-6, 9-4 MIAA) are coming off a 21-point win last time out with an 89-68 win over Nebraska-Kearney.
•    Rogers State (511-8, 8-5 MIAA) is coming off a 75-53 loss at Missouri Southern on Jan. 27.
•    The Ichabods won the first meeting this season with the Hillcats 93-71 on Dec. 9 in Topeka.
•    The Ichabods lead the all-time series with the Hillcats 6-3 winning the last two meetings.
•    Rogers State is 7-2 in home games this season.
•    Washburn is 1-3 in games played in Claremore against the Hillcats dropping its last two games … Washburn's last win in Claremore came in the second encounter in the series with an 81-74 win on Dec. 12, 2020.
•    The Ichabods received votes in the latest NABC Top 25 Coaches Poll.
•    The Ichabods are first in the MIAA in scoring averaging 79.3 ppg and Rogers State is 12th in scoring defense allowing 77.1 ppg.
•    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.
  •    With Andrew Orr (21) and Brayden Shorter (20) each scoring 20 points in the win against Nebraska-Kearney last time out, it marked the first time since Nov. 27, 2004 that two Ichabods had reached at least 20 points in the same game since Karlton Mims (23) and Travis Robbins (22) did so against Eastern New Mexico.
•    Andrew Orr is leading the team in scoring 13.7 ppg this season going 52 of 60 from the free throw line which ranks 31st in the nation in percentage at 86.7 … he is shooting 56 percent from the field hitting 104 of 181 attempts … he is fifth in the MIAA in field goal percentage and ranks ninth on Washburn's all-time chart at 58 percent (310 of 538).
•    Sam Ungashick is scoring averaging 13.3 ppg averaging 3.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game … he leads the team with team with 28 steals.
•    Jack Bachelor is scoring 12.4 ppg this season and leads the team with 67 assists and was named the MIAA Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 8 … he had career-highs of seven assists and six steals against Nebraska-Kearney last time out.
•    Brady Christiansen is averaging 8.4 ppg with a team-high 7.1 rpg … he had a season-high 14 rebounds with seven offensive boards against the Lopers on Saturday.
•    Jarmell Johnson is averaging 7.4 ppg and 3.2 rpg he tied a season-high with seven rebounds against Pittsburg State earlier this season.
•    Michael Keegan is scoring 7.2 ppg with 5.7 rpg … for his career at Washburn he moved into the top 10 in all-time blocks with 73.
•    Jake Schadegg is averaging 5.8 ppg and 1.6 apg … He reached double figures with 10 points tying a season high with five assists against the Lopers.
•    Brayden Shorter is averaging 5.8 scoring and 2.2 rpg scoring a career-high 20 points against the Lopers going 7 of 9 from 3-point range.
•    Emmanuel Byrd is scoring 4.6 ppg with 3.7 rpg … he has pulled down at least four rebounds in five straight games.
•    Zaid Dajani is scoring 1.6 ppg and Kevin Eman is averaging 1.2 ppg after hitting his first career 3-pointer against UNK.
•    The Ichabods are 10th in the nation in and first in the MIAA 3-point shooting 39.3 percent hitting 153 of 389 attempts … Washburn is second the MIAA in 3-pointers made per game at 8.1 per contest.
•    The Ichabods are first in the MIAA in scoring averaging 78.7 ppg and ranked ninth in scoring defense allowing 71.3 ppg.
•    Washburn is +7.2 in rebounding margin this season which leads the MIAA and ranked 12th nationally … the Ichabods also leading the MIAA in total rebounds at 38.7 per game.
•    The Ichabods will be without Jordan Vincent, Bradley Lightbourne, Tyson Ruud and Zach Davidson who will miss the season after injuries, surgeries or recovering from recent surgeries.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD ...
•    is 131-70 in his seventh season as the Ichabods' head coach and 164-100 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 6-3 against Rogers State.
 
ROGERS STATE HEAD COACH JUSTIN BARKLEY ...
•    is 261-141 in his 14th 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 3-6 against the Ichabods.
  •    The Hillcats are 11-8 this season and 8-5 in the MIAA.
•    Rogers State is 7-2 in home games this season with its losses to Missouri Western and Northwest Missouri.
•    Isaac Johnson leads the team in scoring at 14.7 ppg followed by Rodney Battle at 14.4 ppg and Kofi Hamilton at 11.2 ppg.
  •    Saturday's meeting with the Hillcats will be the 10th between the two schools with the Ichabods leading the series 6-3.
•    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 5-0 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.
  (Dec. 9, 2023) TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods shot a blistering 65 percent in the second half finishing the game with 17 3-pointers, one shy of the school record, in a 93-71 win over Rogers State on Saturday in Lee Arena. 
Washburn trailed early at 14-7 as the Hillcats started 6 of 9 from the field in the opening half, but the Ichabod defense locked down and the offense heated up with a 15-4 run over the next five minutes. During the run the Ichabods went 3 of 6 from deep while holding the Hillcats to 1 of 6 shooting to take a 22-18 lead with 8:36 to play in the first half.
The Hillcats cut the lead to 22-20 with 8:09 remaining in the first half before a 12-2 run by the Ichabods stretched their lead to 12 after the under five-minute timeout, but the Hillcats outscored Washburn 14-7 the rest of the half as Washburn took a 41-36 lead into the break.
The Ichabods (5-3, 1-1 MIAA), after shooting 56 percent in the first half from the field heated up even more going 20 of 31 from the field hitting 10 of 15 from deep stretching their lead to as many as 22 in the half holding the Hillcats to 37 percent shooting in the frame. Leading by nine with 8:47 to go at 67-56, Washburn used an 11-0 run going up by 12 putting the game out of reach as Washburn moved to 6-0 against Rogers State in Lee Arena in the 22-point win.
Jack Bachelor led the Ichabods with 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting hitting 3 of 5 3-pointers adding two blocks, three assists and a steal. He led five Ichabods in double-figure scoring followed by Jarmell Johnson with 15 on 6 of 9 shooting and 3 of 4 from deep. Andrew Orr scored eight of his 12 in the second half while Brayden Shorter had 11 hitting 3 of 5 from deep and Sam Ungashick had 10.
Rogers State (3-4, 2-2 MIAA) was led by Rodney Battle with 22 points.
The 17 3-pointers by the Ichabods were one shy of the school record finishing 17 of 28 overall for a 61 percent clip. The Ichabods were 6 of 6 from the line and held a 32-24 advantage on the glass. Six different Ichabods had three assists in the game en route to a season-high 23 total.          KEARNEY, Neb. – The Washburn Ichabods led for all but 67 seconds at Nebraska-Kearney on Saturday sending five players in double figures in an 89-68 win over the Lopers.
After the Lopers (5-13, 2-11 MIAA) led at 3-2, Washburn came back with seven-straight points taking a 9-3 before Nebraska-Kearney tied the score at 10-10 with 13:11 left in the opening half. The Ichabods responded with a 10-0 run including eight in a row by Brayden Shorter with a pair of 3-pointers pushing the lead to 11 at 23-12. UNK would hang around with an 11-point deficit, then Ichabods rolled off 11-straight points to close the half taking a 45-27 lead into the break.
Starting the second half, the Ichabods (13-6, 9-4 MIAA) kept the run going with five more in the first 57 seconds of the second half building a lead of 25 points at 52-27 for their largest lead of the game and UNK would not get closer than 17 the rest of the game.
Andrew Orr led the Ichabods with 21 points on 9 of 12 shooting adding six rebounds, two assists and two blocks. Shorter finished with a career-high 20 points on 7 of 9 shooting hitting 4 of 5 3-pointers. Brady Christiansen recorded his second double double of his career with 11 points and 14 rebounds. Also in double figures were Jake Schadegg with 10 off the bench and Jack Bachelor had 10 points, seven assists and six steals.
D'Aundre Samuels led the Lopers with 16 points.
Overall the Ichabods shot 49 percent for the game hitting 34 of 69 shots going 10 of 24 from 3-point range. Washburn held the Lopers to 35 percent shooting in the first half and 41 percent in the game as UNK finished 26 of 62 from the field. Washburn also forced 18 Loper turnovers leading to 26 points. •    The Ichabods are 1,681-1,129-2 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 686-321 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 496-102 (.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 wrap up its longest trip of the season at Northeastern State on Feb. 3 before returning home on Feb. 7 to host Missouri Western and Northwest Missouri on Feb. 10.