•    The Washburn Ichabods will wrap up their three-game homestand on Saturday at 3 p.m. facing Newman in Lee Arena.
•    Washburn (8-4, 4-2 MIAA) have won its last three games including a 75-68 win over No. 12-ranked Central Oklahoma on Jan. 4.
•    Newman enters the game 6-6 overall and 3-4 in the MIAA after falling at Emporia State on Jan. 3 in a 100-73 loss.
•    The Ichabods received votes in the latest NABC Top 25 Coaches Poll.
•    The Ichabods lead the all-time series with Newman 27-7 winning the last eight games.
•    The Ichabods are 21-1 all-time against the Jets in Topeka … Newman's lone win over the Ichabods in Topeka came on Feb. 12, 1980 … overall the Ichabods have won 18 in a row in the capital city.
•    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. •    The Ichabods have averaged 77.5 ppg during the eight-game winning streak reaching the 90-point mark in five games including two 100-point games … the Jets have averaged 63.4 ppg during the same stretch.
•    Sam Ungashick leads the Ichabods in scoring averaging 16.2 ppg averaging 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game … he is averaging 17.0 ppg in MIAA contests including a career-high 26 against Missouri Western and he's ranked fifth in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage hitting 31 of 62 attempts.
•    Andrew Orr is scoring 12.7 ppg this season going 32 of 35 from the free throw line  which ranks 15th in the nation in percentage at 91.4 … he is shooting 55 percent from the field hitting 60 of 109 attempts.
•    Jack Bachelor is scoring 11.7 ppg this season and leading the team with 37 assists … he scored a career-high 24 points against Northeastern State on Dec. 19 … he's scored 19 points off the bench against UCO last time out and has averaged 16.4 ppg in his last five games.
•    Brady Christiansen is averaging 7.8 ppg with a team-high 7.8 rpg … he has averaged 8.8 rpg in his last four contests.
•    Michael Keegan is scoring 7.2 ppg with 5.3 rpg scoring averaging 11.3 ppg in the last three games with 8.0 rpg going 15 of 25 from the field (.600).
•    Jake Schadegg is averaging 7.2 ppg averaging 8.3 ppg in the last three games.
•    Jarmell Johnson is averaging 7.7 ppg and 3.2 rpg going 6 of 8 from the free throw line in his last two games.
•    Emmanuel Byrd is scoring 5.2 ppg with 4.1 rpg.
•    Brayden Shorter is averaging 4.1 ppg.
•    Zaid Dajani is scoring 1.8 ppg … Kevin Eman is averaging 1.0 ppg.
•    The Ichabods are fifth in the nation in 3-point shooting 41.3 percent hitting 105 of 254 attempts … Washburn leads the MIAA in 3-pointers made per game at 8.8 per contest.
•    The Ichabods are first in the MIAA in scoring averaging 81.3 ppg and ranked seventh in scoring defense allowing 69.9 ppg.
•    Washburn's 48.7 field goal percentage is third in the MIAA and 38th in the nation.
•    Washburn is +11.3 in rebounding margin this season which is second in the MIAA and ranked ninth nationally … also leading the MIAA in total rebounds at 39.3 per game.
•    This season overall, Ichabod opponents have shot 39 more free throws than the Washburn has … Washburn is 168 of 227 at the charity stripe this season while opponents are 189 of 266.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD ...
•    is 126-68 in his seventh season as the Ichabods' head coach and 159-98 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 7-0 against Newman.
 
NEWMAN HEAD COACH R.J. ALLEN ...
•    is 68-106 in his seventh season as the Jets' head coach.
•    spent six seasons as an assistant at Newman before moving into the head coaching position.
•    is 0-7 against Washburn.
  •    Newman is 6-6 overall and 3-4 in the MIAA after falling at Emporia State 100-73 last time out.
•    The Jets are 0-4 in away games this season.
•    Steve Strong leads four Jets in double-figure scoring at 16.0 ppg. Stevie Smith is scoring 11.8 ppg while Latik Murphy is scoring 10.3 ppg and Sam Smerhalder is averaging 10.1 ppg with a team-best 6.1 rpg.
•    Newman is scoring 75.6 ppg while allowing 79.3 per game.
  •    Saturday's meeting with the Jets is the 37th all-time.
•    The Ichabods lead the all-time series 29-7.
•    The Ichabods have won the last 24 of the 26 meetings with the Jets and the last eight overall.
•    Washburn is 7-5 against Newman in games played in Wichita.
•    is 21-1 against Newman in Topeka with the lone loss coming on Feb. 12, 1980 in a 68-56 defeat … a winning streak of 18 games in a row for the Ichabods in Topeka.
  (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.     
  (Jan. 4, 2024) TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team opened the year of 2024 with a bang knocking off the No. 12-ranked Central Oklahoma Bronchos on Thursday night in Lee Arena in a 75-68 win. 
The Ichabods (8-4, 4-2 MIAA) trailed the Bronchos (12-3, 4-3 MIAA) by one at 60-59 with 5:03 to go, but four free throws by Jack Bachelor and Sam Ungashick pushed the Ichabod lead to 63-60 with 4:28 remaining. UCO cut the lead to one again with a jumper by Danquez Dawsey. With 2:33 left, Michael Keegan nailed a 3-pointer from the corner as the Ichabod margin moved to four followed by a free throw on the Ichabods' next possession by Bachelor stretched the lead to five at 67-62.
Dawsey hit a jumper and then Keegan had a jumper of his own as the Ichabods led by five at 69-64 with 1:24 to play, but Dawsey hit another layup trimming the UCO deficit to three with 1:14 to play. However, the Ichabods outscored the Bronchos 6-2 in the final 71 seconds going 4 of 6 from the free throw line with Bachelor scoring the five of the six down the stretch to lock up the third-straight win for the Ichabods and the second-straight loss for UCO.
The Ichabods led 34-33 at the break after shooting 45 percent from the field holding UCO to 34 percent including 5 of 12 from deep. Washburn held UCO to 36 percent shooting in the second half and 2 of 9 from deep.
Bachelor led the Ichabods with 19 points with 13 coming in the second half. He finished 12 of 18 from the free throw line. Ungashick scored 16 points hitting three 3-pointers and Keegan finished with 15 on 7 of 9 shooting from the field. Keegan had six boards and Andrew Orr had six points and five assists, one shy of his career-high – also set against Central Oklahoma on Feb. 11, 2023.
Jaden Wells scored a game-high 22 points on 5 of 20 shooting and Dawsey finished with 17.
Washburn outrebounded UCO 40 to 34 turning 12 offensive rebounds (four by Keegan) into 13 second-chance points. The Ichabods also had a 19 to 5 advantage in fastbreak points.        •    The Ichabods are 1,676-1,127-2 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 682-319 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 493-102 (.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 head out on a two-game trip through Missouri playing at Central Missouri on Jan. 10 and Lincoln on Jan. 13 before hosting Missouri Southern on Jan. 17 and Pittsburg State on Jan. 20.