OPENING TIP
• The No. 10-ranked Washburn Ichabods are back in the friendly confines of Lee Arena on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. hosting Pittsburg State in a non-conference contest.
• The Ichabods are 4-0 this season coming off a 77-55 win over Rockhurst in Kansas City in their first true road game of the season.
• The Ichabods were ranked No. 9 in the latest D2CIDA poll released on Nov. 12.
• The Gorillas are 2-2 this season playing all four of their games in Municipal Auditorium. In their last game out, Pittsburg State topped William Jewell 61-60 scoring the go-ahead bucket with 62 seconds to play in the contest.
• Washburn leads the all-time series 110-78.
• The Ichabods have won the last 23 of the last 27 meetings including 16 of the last 19 and the last eight overall.
• The Ichabods are 34-3 in Lee Arena against PSU and 38-16 against the Gorillas in MIAA play. The home team is 36-14 in the last 50 regular season meetings, dating back to 1996-97.
• 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 141-75 in his eighth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 174-105 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 8-1 against Pittsburg State.
 
PITTSBURG STATE HEAD COACH JEFF BOSCHEE ...
•  is in his third season as the head coach at Pittsburg State where he has gone 22-12 … he served as head coach at MIAA rival Missouri Southern State University prior to moving to Pittsburg … he compiled has a 182-119 record overall.
•  Boschee directed MSSU to four 20-win seasons and three consecutive trips to the NCAA Division II National Tournament between the 2017-18 and the 2019-20 campaigns. He was selected the 2017-18 MIAA Coach of the Year and his 2018-19 squad reached the NCAA Sweet 16 while posting a 25-8 record.
•  is 9-5 against Washburn overall and 0-2 at Pittsburg State.
 
ABOUT PITTSBURG STATE
• The Gorillas are 2-2 this season coming off a 61-60 win over William Jewell on Nov. 156 in Kansas City.
• All four of the Gorilla games this season have been played in Municipal Auditorium.
• Former Missouri Southern standout Avery Taggart leads four Gorillas in double-figure scoring at 14.3 ppg hitting a team-high 11 3-pointers. R.J. Forney, Jr., is scoring 13.0 ppg. Darrell Washington is scoring 10.5 ppg and Tanner Mans is scoring 10.3 ppg.
• The Gorillas are averaging 69.25 points per game while allowing 73.3 points per contest.
 
SERIES HISTORY PITTSBURG STATE
• Tuesday's meeting will be the 189th between these two schools in a series that dates back to the first meeting on Feb. 19, 1920.
• Washburn leads the all-time series 110-78.
• The Ichabods have won the last 23 of the last 27 meetings including 16 of the last 19 and the last eight overall.
• The Ichabods are 34-3 in Lee Arena against PSU and 38-16 against the Gorillas in MIAA play. The home team is 36-14 in the last 50 regular season meetings, dating back to 1996-97.
• The series goes back to 1919-20 and it has been played at least once a year since 1941-42.
• In Topeka, Washburn leads 72-24 all-time.
• The longest winning streak by the Ichabods is 13 from Jan. 15, 1983 to March 4, 1988.
• The longest winning streak by the Gorillas is six games from Dec. 12, 1936 to Feb. 13, 1943.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE ICHABODS AGAINST PITTSBURG STATE
(Nov. 20, 2024) TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods rallied from a 10-point deficit midway through the first half shooting 63 percent from the field in final stanza holding off Pittsburg State 81-74 on Saturday afternoon inside Lee Arena. 
The Ichabods (12-5, 8-3 MIAA) trailed 26-16 with 8:42 to play in the game before the Ichabods used a 21-10 run to close the frame taking entering the break on a layup by Sam Ungashick with a 37-36 lead.
After shooting 41 percent in the first half the field, the Ichabods shot a smoking 63 percent in the second half hitting 17 of 27 overall going 4 of 7 from deep to finish at 51 percent in the game.
Pittsburg State (9-7, 5-5 MIAA) held its last lead of the game at 39-37 on a 3-pointer by Jordan Frison and after the teams traded baskets, a 3-pointer by Michael Keegan gave the Ichabods the lead for good with 16:45 to play. Brayden Shorted's jumper in the paint with 11:15 to go pushed the Ichabods to a game-high 14-point lead.
The Gorillas trimmed the lead to a few as five at 70-65 with 4:18 to play, but a 3-pointer by Brady Christiansen and a jumper by Ungashick stretch the margin to 10 at the 2:47 mark and Pitt State would get no closer than six with 25 seconds to go.
Jack Bachelor led a balanced scoring attack with 14 points adding five assists. Andrew Orr, Ungashick and Shorter each had 13 with Shorter pulling down a career-high eight rebounds. Jarmell Johnson had eight points with seven boards and three steals.
Braydon Redd and Jeramy Shaw each had 18 points and Deshaun English II had nine points and 19 rebounds.
The Ichabods trailed on the glass at 36-35 to the Gorillas, but outscored the Gorillas 44 to 34 in the paint and 31 to 25 off the bench winning remaining perfect at home winning their tenth in a row in Lee Arena.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE ICHABODS
(Nov. 15, 2024) KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The No. 10-ranked Washburn Ichabod basketball team had four players reach double figures as the team improved to 4-0 on the season in a 77-55 win over Rockhurst on Friday night in Kansas City. 
The Ichabods trailed once for 29 seconds when the Hawks (2-1)  led 3-2 in the first 27 seconds of the game as neither team could build a lead of more than five points. With 4:30 to go in the opening frame, the Ichabods turned a 26-24 lead into a 41-27 halftime advantage closing the half on a 15-3 run capped by a Kade Cook dunk at the buzzer. During the run, Washburn was 5 of 10 from the field hitting a pair of 3-pointers while the Ichabod defense held the Hawks to 0 of 6 from the field.
Washburn started the second half scoring 10 of the first 14 points building a 20-point lead, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Rockhurst cut the lead to 14 at 53-37. The Ichabods scored on their next two possessions to go back up by 20 before Rockhurst hit another pair of 3-pointers, pulling within 14 with 11:25 to go but did not get any closer as the Ichabods scored eight straight to go up 22 at 70-48 with 6:55 remaining cruising to the 22-point win.
Former Great Lakes Valley Conference first-team selection Jacob Hanna scored a game-high 19 points back in familiar territory on 6 of 11 shooting adding five rebounds. Brayden Shorter scored 16 points hitting four 3-pointers and Michael Keegan had 15 with nine rebounds and five assists. Jack Bachelor scored 11 points with six rebounds and four assists.
Rockhurst was led by Jesse White who scored 18 for the Hawks.
Washburn shot a season-best 52 percent from the field hitting 29 of 56 shots overall going 8 of 23 from deep. Washburn also held a 40 to 34 advantage on the glass and outscored the Hawks 40 to 14 in the paint while turning 11 Hawk turnovers into 17 points.
The win over the Hawks snapped a four-game losing streak to Rockhurst in Mason-Halplin Fieldhosue as the Ichabods recorded their first win since a 48-47 win on Dec. 13, 2014.
 
ICHABOD BASKETBALL HISTORY
• The Ichabods are 1,692-1,133-2 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 500-103 (.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 will host William Jewell on Nov .23 and Peru State on Nov. 30 before opening MIAA play at Nebraska-Kearney on Dec. 5 and at Fort Hays State on Dec. 7.