OPENING TIP
•               The No. 3 Washburn Ichabods will host Peru State at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 30 in Lee Arena after the Thanksgiving holiday.
•               The Ichabods moved to 6-0 this season after defeating William Jewell on Nov. 23 in an 81-73 win over the Cardinals.
•               The Ichabods were ranked No. 3 in the NABC top 25 coaches poll and fourth in the latest D2CIDA poll released on Nov. 26.
•               The ranking is the highest by an Ichabod team since earning a No. 2 ranking on Dec. 18, 2012. The last time the Ichabods were ranked No. 3 in the nation was on Nov. 30, 2004.
•               Peru State is 7-1 after falling at Baker 87-64 on Nov. 26.
•               The Bobcats are receving votes in the latest NAIA poll.
•               The Bobcats will play Emporia State Dec. 1 after facing the Ichabods the night before.
•               Peru State won the last meeting between with the Ichabods in a 76-72 win over Washburn in Lee Arena on Jan. 2, 2017.
•               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 CLUES
•               Andrew Orr needs 23 points to become the 28th member of the Ichabod 1,000 point club.
•               Michael Keegan has 826 career points in 102 career games as an Ichabod and he has moved into sixth all-time at Washburn in career blocks with 83.
•               The Ichabods are eighth in the nation in rebound margin at +12.0 and 12th in scoring margin at 20.5.
•               Jacob Hanna is 17th in the nation in free throws made with 37 and 15th in attempts with 50.
•               Andrew Orr is 12th in the nation in field goal percentage at 70.0.
•               Michael Keegan is 19th in the nation in assist to turnover ration at 4.20 to 1.

COACHES
WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD ...
•               is 143-75 in his eighth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 176-105 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 2-0 against Peru State with both wins coming as Baker's head coach.
 
PERU STATE HEAD COACH ROMAN GENTRY  ...
•               is in his third season as the Bobcats' head coach going 52-22 overall.
•               was previously at the University of South Dakota as an assistant coach for the 2021-22 season. Before his most recent stint at USD, he was an assistant coach at Concordia St. Paul (Minn.) from 2014-2021 in the Northern Sun Conference.
•               is 0-0 against the Ichabods.
 
ABOUT PERU STATE
•               Peru State is 7-2 after falling at No. 19-Baker 87-64 on Tuesday.
•               The Bobcats have dropped their last two games.
•               Carlos Hines leads the team at 14.1 ppg and Devin Tomlinson is scoring 11.9 ppg pulling down a team-high 6.6 rpg.
 
SERIES HISTORY PERU STATE
•               Washburn leads the alltime series 14-2.
•               Washburn had its 11-game winning streak snapped in the last meeting on Jan. 2, 2017 in a 76-72 Ichabod loss.
•               The other win for the Bobcats in the series came on Dec. 20, 1962 in a 60-54 win on the road.
•               Washburn has averaged 86.3 ppg in the 16 meetings and have won 9 of the last 10.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE ICHABODS AGAINST PERU STATE
(Jan. 2, 2017) TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball lost its final non-conference game of the season in Lee Arena on Monday night 76-72 to Peru State. Washburn returns to MIAA play on Saturday at Emporia State at 7 p.m. when they will take on the Hornets as Bob Chipman looks for win No. 799.
The Ichabods (10-3) trailed by as many as 13 in the first half as 21-8 with 11:53 to play before Washburn ripped off a 15-0 run over the next 8:13 as they held the Bobcats (5-7) to 0 of 12 shooting from the field while the Ichabods hit 6 of 9 shots as the Ichabods would go in front 23-21 with 3:40 to play. The Bobcats, came back and scored 12 of the next 20 points to end the half as Rashad Brackeen hit a 3-pointer at the end of the half staking the Bobcats to a 33-31 lead entering the break. Brackeen's led the Bobcats with a game-high 31 points going 6 of 11 from 3-point range in the game.
In the second half, neither team would lead by more than six as the Ichabods led 60-56 with 8:02 remaining, but an 8-0 run by the Bobcats regained the lead at 64-60. Washburn rallied to tie the score at 67 with 2:11 to play on a 3-pointer by Cameron Wiggins, but Washburn was outscored 9 to 5 the final 1:53 of the game as the Bobcats held on for the win - their first over the Ichabods since Dec. 20, 1962 snapping the Ichabods' 11-game winning streak over Peru State, who was also playing the game as an exhibition contest.
Wiggins led the Ichabods with 19 points and Brady Skeens and Randall Smith each scored 14. For Skeens it was his 16th double double of his career and the sixth of the season adding 11 rebounds and two blocks.
Washburn finished the game 28 of 63 from the field outshooting the Bobcats 44 percent to 41 percent as PSC hit 24 of 58 shots. Washburn was 5 of 23 from 3-point range while the Bobcats were 9 of 26. The Bobcats attempted five more free throws than Washburn hitting 19 of 26 compared to 11 of 21 for Washburn.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE ICHABODS
(Nov. 23, 2024) TOPEKA, Kan. – The No. 5 Washburn Ichabods put up 52 points in the second half turning a 3-point halftime lead into an 8-point win over William Jewell on Saturday in Lee Arena.
Washburn scored 12 of the first 15 points of the game taking the 12-3 lead 3:19 into the game before the Cardinals (3-2) came back to cut the lead to 14-10 before the Ichabods scored six straight points to go up 20-10 after the second media timeout.
With Washburn leading 24-12, William Jewell tied the score at 24 after a 12-0 run over a 5:37 stretch before a Jack Bachelor 3-pointer with 2:35 ended the Ichabod drought as Washburn took a 29-26 lead into the break.
Starting the second half, Brayden Shorter connected on a 3-pointer before a mini 5-0 spurt by the Cardinals cut the lead to one at 32-31 with 18:07 to play. The teams traded jumpers before Shorter hit another 3-pointer putting Washburn up four at 37-33 with 16:12 remaining. A dunk by the Cardinals cut the difference back to two at 37-35.
The Ichabods (6-0) led by no more than five with 12:07 to go until a 10-1 run midway through the half pushed Washburn up by 12 with 7:13 left and the Cardinals would not get within eight until 24 seconds and 11 seconds to play for the final margin.
Jacob Hanna led the Ichabods with 19 points adding eight rebounds and six assists as he finished 9 of 10 from the free throw line. He paced five Ichabods in double digits as Shorter had 19, Jack Bachelor had 14 and Andrew Orr had 12 along with Brady Christiansen who also had seven rebounds.
Jason Thirdkill, Jr. and Jordan Jermain each had 17 to lead William Jewell.
The Ichabods, who were held to 41 percent shooting in the first half heated up to 71 percent in the second half hitting 17 of 24 shots overall going 6 of 9 from deep and 12 of 14 from the free throw line scoring the 51 points. William Jewell was ranked 19th in the nation in scoring offense allowing only 61 points per game.
Washburn outrebounded the Cardinals 32 to 23 in the game as William Jewell had 12 offensive rebounds and 11 defensive boards. Washburn led for 39:08 of the game overall.
 
ICHABOD BASKETBALL HISTORY
•               The Ichabods are 1,693-1,133-2 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 open MIAA play at Nebraska-Kearney on Dec. 5 and at Fort Hays State on Dec. 7.