OPENING TIP
• The No. 10-ranked Washburn Ichabods will be in action for the first time in the 2024-25 season as they will host Ottawa at 7 p.m. on Nov. 12 in Lee Arena.
• The Ichabods are 2-0 this season after a pair of wins at the Central Regional Challenge in Kansas City after topping Sioux Falls on Nov. 8 and No. 1-ranked Minnesota State the following day in an 85-68 win in Municipal Auditorium.
• The next NABC and D2CIDA national polls will be released on Nov. 12.
• The Ottawa Braves enter the game with a 4-1 record coming off a 79-77 win over Culver-Stockton on Nov. 6.
• The game between the Ichabods and the Braves will be an exhibition game on the Ottawa schedule.
• The Ichabods lead the all-time series 58-17 with Ottawa and have won the last 25 meetings.
• The next win in Lee Arena will be the Ichabods' 500th victory all-time on the home court … Washburn enters the game 499-103 (.848) all-time in Lee Arena in its 39th season of play in Lee Arena.
• The Ichabods are 38-1 all-time in home openers …the lone loss came on Nov. 16, 1990 in an 89-88 loss to Friends … since then the Ichabods have won 33 straight.
• The Ichabods finished the 2023-24 season with a 19-11 record advancing to the MIAA Tournament semifinals.
• The Ichabods have recorded 30, 20-win seasons and four under Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard in his seven seasons receiving  four NCAA postseason berths.
• The 2024-25 season marks the 120th season of Ichabod basketball.

COACHES
WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD ...
• is 139-75 in his eighth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 172-105 overall in his 10th year as a head coach.
• has led the Ichabods to four NCAA postseason appearances in seven 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 6-2 against Ottawa going 4-0 while at Washburn and 2-2 while coaching Baker.
 
OTTAWA HEAD COACH MATT CROSS ...
•  is in his first season as head men's basketball coach at Ottawa.
•  was the head men's basketball coach and Athletics Coordinator at Texas College from 2021 to 2024. It was Cross' second stint with the program. He was the head men's basketball coach at TC from 2006-2008. In 2023-24, the Steers broke the program record for wins with 22, qualified for the program's first trip to the NAIA National Tournament, and defeated three NAIA Top 25 teams. In his four years at Texas College, Cross was a Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) Coach of the Year selection and was named Athletic Department Coach of the Year (2008, 2024). He was given the President's Service Award by Texas College in May of 2024.
• has never faced the Ichabods.
 
ABOUT OTTAWA
• The Braves are 4-1 this season with Tuesday's game counting as an exhibition game for Ottawa.
• Keith Robinson leads the team averaging 18.6 ppg hitting a team-high 11 3-pointers this season averaging a team-best 7.0 rpg.
• Jayden Hibbitt is scoring 15.6 ppg with 6.8 rpg and Deondre Buggage is averaging 15.4 ppg.
• As a team the Braves are averaging 81.1 ppg while allowing 79.7 ppg.
• The OU men's basketball team will be wearing black bands on their grey and gold jerseys and an AC patch on the white jerseys to honor former OU men's basketball coach Andy Carrier. Carrier was an assistant for Bob Chipman on the Ichabods' 1986-87 NAIA national championship team and passed away on July 1, 2024 in Olathe.
 
SERIES HISTORY OTTAWA
• The Ichabods lead the all-time series 58-17 with the 76th meeting coming up.
• The Ichabods have won the last 25 meetings in the series and Washburn is 32-5 against the Braves in Topeka.
• Ottawa's last win in the series came on Dec. 29, 1959 in an 85-68 win in Ottawa.
• Ottawa's last win in Topeka came on Jan. 27, 1952 in a 79-53 victory.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE ICHABODS AGAINST OTTAWA
(Nov. 21, 2023) TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods put up 51 first-half points rolling to a 97-76 win over the Ottawa Braves on Tuesday night in Lee Arena.
The Ichabods led 51-35 at the break after shooting 46 percent from the field. Starting out the game, Ottawa took a 7-3 four minutes into the game, but after a Washburn timeout the Ichabods went on a 19-4 run building a 22-11 lead with 11:06 to play. Ottawa trimmed the lead back to six at 24-18 before a 13-2 spurt by Washburn (3-2) stretched the margin to 17 before taking the 16-point lead into the break.
Washburn led by as many as 32 in the second half with 5:11 to go in the game at 91-59 before Ottawa closed on a 17-4 run of its own hitting all five 3-point attempts cutting the difference to 19 with under two minutes to go.
Washburn was led by Sam Ungashick who paced five Ichabods in double figures with 16 points adding four assists. Jarmell Johnson had 13 with three steals followed by Andrew Orr with 12 and eight rebounds, Jack Bachelor's 11 points off the bench with seven boards and four assists. Michael Keegan had 10 points and five boards and Brady Christiansen finished with seven points and game-high 10 rebounds.
Washburn finished 45 percent from the field hitting 38 of 84 shots overall and 10 of 29 from deep. Ottawa was 27 of 60 overall and went 15 of 27 from 3-point range for a 56 percent clip. Washburn outrebounded the Braves (4-3) 54 to 29 overall and turned 19 offensive rebounds into 23 second chance points. Washburn also forced 18 Brave turnovers leading to 26 points.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE ICHABODS
(Nov. 9, 2024) KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The No. 10-ranked Washburn Ichabods closed the first half on a 16 to 7 run en route to an 11-point lead at the break and led by as many as 20 in the second half improving to 2-0 on the season with a win over the No. 1-ranked Minnesota State Mavericks on Saturday in Municipal Auditorium. The Ichabods picked up their first win over a No. 1-ranked opponent on March 6, 2021, when they topped Northwest Missouri in the MIAA Championship game.
After leading by nine at the break after shooting 49 percent in the first half on 16 of 33 from the field, the Ichabods held the Mavericks to 9 of 30 for a 30 percent clip including 2 of 13 from deep.
Washburn scored the first four points of the second half to go up 40-27. After trading three pointers, MSU trailed by 11 at 50-39, but an 8-0 spurt put the Ichabods up 19 and Washburn kept the Mavericks at arms link until the pulling with 11 with  3:31 remaining but Washburn outscored Minnesota state 8 to 2 down the stretch for the 17-point win.
Washburn outscored the Mavericks 49 to 41 in the second half shooting 42 percent from the field.  The Ichabods finished the game 31 of 67 overall hitting 47 percent of their shots going 7 of 19 from 3-point range and 16 of 24 from the free throw line. The Washburn also held a 48 to 36 advantage on the glass and outscored the Mavericks 48 to 32 in the paint and had 22 second-chance points after collecting 14 offensive rebounds.
After putting six Ichabods in double figures in yesterday's win over Sioux Falls, five reached double digits in today's win led by Andrew Orr's 19 points. He added eight rebounds. Also reaching double-figures scoring were Jacob Hanna with 17 and Brayden Shorter with 17. Jack Bachelor had 12 and Brady Christiansen had a double double  with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Harrison Braudis had 19 to tie for game-high honors for the Mavericks.
 
ICHABOD BASKETBALL HISTORY
• The Ichabods are 1,690-1,133-2 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 692-325 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.
 
HOME SWEET HOME
• The Ichabods are 499-103 (.848) all-time in Lee Arena.
• The 2024-25 season marks the 39th 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.
 
UP NEXT
• The Ichabods return to Kansas City for the second time in a week to take on Rockhurst at 7 p.m.