OPENING TIP
• The No. 5 Washburn Ichabods are back in Lee Arena for another contest facing William Jewell on Saturday at 2 p.m.
• The Ichabods improved to 5-0 this season after topping Pittsburg State in a non-conference game on Tuesday night at home in an 89-71 win.
• The Ichabods were ranked No. 5 in the NABC top 25 coaches poll and tied for eighth in the latest D2CIDA poll released on Nov. 19.
• William Jewell is 3-1 this season after topping Emporia State 89-74 in Liberty on Tuesday night.
• William Jewell received votes in the latest NABC top 25 coaches poll released on Tuesday.
• The Ichabods will be the third MIAA team the Cardinals have played this season. William Jewell lost to Pittsburg State 61-60 on Nov. 15 in Kansas City. The Cardinals will also play Missouri Western (Nov. 26), Fort Hays State (Nov. 14) and Newman (Nov. 17) this season.
• Washburn has won the last two meetings played in Topeka going 8-3 overall against the Cardinals in Lee Arena.
• William Jewell won last season's meeting 85-70 in Liberty.
• 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.
 
BLUES CREWS
• Andrew Orr needs 35 points to become the 28th member of the Ichabod 1,000 point club.
• While playing for Illinois Springfield, Jacob Hanna had a double double against William Jewell on Jan. 6, 2024 with 16 points, 11 rebounds and six assists … in the match up on Feb. 1, 2024 Hanna had another double double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
• Michael Keegan has 820 career points in 101 career games as an Ichabod and he has moved into sixth all-time at Washburn in career blocks with 83.

COACHES
WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD ...
• is 142-75 in his eighth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 175-105 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 1-4 against William Jewell.
 
WILLIAM JEWELL HEAD COACH CHRIS MCCABE ...
• Chris McCabe is in his sixth season at the helm of the Cardinal program.
• is 69-75 overall.
• earned his undergraduate degree in social science at Kansas State and a master's in educational administration from Northwest Missouri State
• is 2-1 against the Ichabods.
 
ABOUT WILLIAM JEWELL
• William Jewell is 3-1 this season after topping Emporia State 89-74 in Liberty on Tuesday night.
• William Jewell received votes in the latest NABC top 25 coaches poll released on Tuesday.
• The Cardinals are led by Jordan Jermain's 19.5 ppg adding 6.4 rpg. Also averaging double digit scoring is Eli Wingert (13.0 ppg / 7.5 rpg), Jason Thirdkill, Jr. (12.3 ppg / 4.3 rpg) and Bradley Lightbourne (10.8 ppg / 3.5 rpg). Lightbourne redshirted the 2023-24 season at Washburn.
• William Jewell is ranked 19th in the nation in scoring defense allowing 61.0 ppg, sixth in the nation in turnover margin (+9.7) and seventh in turnovers per game (9.0).
 
SERIES HISTORY WILLIAM JEWELL
• The Ichabods lead the series 13-7 after falling in the last meeting on Nov. 15, 2023 in an 85-70 loss in Liberty.
• The Ichabods are 5-4 in road games and 8-3 in home contests and have won 7 of the last 10 overall.
• The first meeting in the series was a 19-17 loss by the Ichabods on Feb. 3, 1911 in Liberty.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE ICHABODS AGAINST WILLIAM JEWELL
(Nov. 15, 2023) LIBERTY, Mo. – Too many turnovers and a hot-shooting William Jewell squad was too much for the Ichabods to overcome as the men's squad fell 85-70 to the Cardinals on Wednesday in Liberty, Mo.
The Ichabods trailed 42-34 as the Cardinals closed the half on a 6-0 run while shooting a blistering 59 percent from the field going 17 of 29 overall and 6 of 12 from deep. The Ichabods were also hot from the field in the opening 20 minutes going 14 of 27 from the field and 6 of 11 from deep. Sam Ungashick scored 13 points in the first half going 5 of 5 from the field and 3 of 3 from deep. However, nine Ichabod turnovers leading to 14 points for the Cardinals pushing William Jewell to the eight-point halftime advantage.
Coming out of the intermission the Ichabods cut the Jewell lead to six at 47-71 after a 3-pointer by Michael Keegan and a floater by Ungashick with 16:49 to play, but then the Cardinal erupted for a 16-0 over the next 3:32 building a 63-41 lead.
Washburn (1-2) responded with a 7-0 run of its own cutting the difference back to 15 with 10:18 to play, Washburn cut the lead to 13 with under six minutes to play but would get no closer the rest of the game.
Ungashick led the Ichabods with a career-high 25 points on 10 of 12 shooting going 5 of 5 from the field adding five assists as the lone Ichabod to reach double figures. All five of the Cardinals (3-0) starters reached double digits led by Grant Stubbs' 18 points.
Washburn outshot the Cardinals from the field hitting 29 of 53 shots for a 55 percent clip compared to 29 of 57 for William Jewell. The Ichabods finished 10 of 19 from 3-point range while Jewell was 12 of 23. Washburn finished 2 of 6 from the free throw line while William Jewell was 15 of 17 on the backs of a 17 to 11 foul difference.
In all, 18 Ichabod turnovers led to 28 points for the Cardinals. Washburn tallied 12 points off of 10 Jewell turnovers.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE ICHABODS
(Nov. 19, 2024) TOPEKA, Kan. – The No. 5-ranked Ichabods outscored Pittsburg State 40 to 20 in the paint and 15 to 4 in fastbreak points sending all five starters into double-figure scoring as Washburn picked up an 89-71 win over the Gorillas in a non-conference game in Lee Arena on Tuesday night.
With the score tied at 2-2 in the first minute of the game, Washburn used a 14-5 run doubling up the Gorillas at 14-7 before the first media timeout. The Ichabods (5-0) stretched their lead to 12 at 22-20 after 3-pointers by Brayden Shorter and Brady Christiansen and a pair of Shorter free throws. However Pitt used an 8-0 run of its own putting within four at 22-18 with 10:15 to go.
After a Gorillas (2-3) 3-pointer trimming Washburn's lead back to five, the Ichabods scored the next seven points to go up 14 and then scored seven more points after another 3-pointer by Pitt State to go up a first-half high 16 points before taking a 44-33 lead into the break.
Washburn scored 14 of the first 20 points of the second half building a 19-point advantage at 58-39 with 14:20 to go. Pitt State would cut the lead to 14 with 10:04 to go but that would be as close as they would get as the Ichabods led by as many as 23 as Washburn won its ninth game in a row over the Gorillas.
Jacob Hanna led the Ichabods with a game-high 20 points adding seven rebounds. Andrew Orr scored 17 points on 7 of 9 shooting. Shorter finished with 15 points and Michael Keegan and Jack Bachelor each had 13. Bachelor had four steals in the game and Brady Christiansen had seven rebounds.
R.J. Forner led the Gorillas with 18 points.
Washburn finished the game 31 of 58 from the field and 10 of 25 from deep. Washburn was 17 of 19 from the free throw line as well. Pittsburg State finished 24 of 52 from the field. The Ichabods outrebounded the Gorillas 35 to 21 .
 
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 501-104 (.848) all-time in Lee Arena.
• The 2024-25 season marks the 40th season of play in Lee Arena.
• The Ichabods are 39-1 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 Peru State on Nov. 30 before opening MIAA play at Nebraska-Kearney on Dec. 5 and at Fort Hays State on Dec. 7.