•    The Washburn Ichabods will be on the road this weekend after a week off from games as they travel to face Central Oklahoma in Edmond on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.
•    Washburn (15-8, 11-6 MIAA) is coming off a 75-72 loss to No. 12-ranked Northwest Missouri last time out on Feb. 10.
•    The Bronchos are 17-8, 9-8 MIAA and have been off since a 66-62 loss at Fort Hays State on Feb. 10.
•    The Ichabods won the first meeting between the two schools on Jan. 4 in Topeka in a 75-68 win.
•    The Ichabods are in a tie for third in the MIAA standings with Pittsburg State (11-6) behind Northwest Missouri (15-2), Fort Hays State (13-4). Rogers State (10-6) is in fourth and Central Oklahoma, Missouri Western and Missouri Southern are all tied for sixth at 9-8.
•    The Ichabods received votes in the latest NABC Top 25 Coaches Poll.
•    Washburn returns home for three of their final four games starting with Lincoln on Feb. 22 followed by Central Missouri on Feb. 24. After their final regular season road game of the season at Missouri Southern on Feb. 28, Washburn will face Emporia State on senior day on March 2.
•    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. •    Andrew Orr leads the team in scoring 13.9 ppg this season … he is shooting 57 percent from the field hitting 129 of 227 attempts going … he has scored at least 20 points in three of the last five games … he is fifth in the MIAA in field goal percentage and ranks eighth on Washburn's all-time chart at 58 percent (311 of 546).
•    Sam Ungashick is scoring 12.8 ppg averaging 3.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game … he leads the team with team with 37 steals … Ungashick scored 16 points against the Bronchos in the last meeting hitting three 3-pointers.
•    Jack Bachelor is scoring 12.0 ppg this season and leads the team with 81 assists and was named the MIAA Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 8 … he started his fourth game of the season against Northwest Missouri last time out and scored 19 points hitting 12 of 18 free throws in the first meeting with Central Oklahoma.
•    Brady Christiansen is averaging 8.5 ppg with a team-high 7.1 rpg … he is fourth in the MIAA in rebound average and is third in the MIAA in offensive rebounds averaging 2.5 per game …he has also moved into the top 50 all-time at Washburn in rebounds with 353 midway through his sophomore season.
•    Jarmell Johnson is averaging 7.5 ppg and 3.1 rpg … he scored six points against UCO in the first meeting.
•    Michael Keegan is scoring 7.3 ppg with 5.6 rpg … for his career at Washburn he moved into the top 10 in all-time blocks with 75 … he scored a season-high 16 points against NWMSU last time out adding seven rebounds and two blocks with three assists hitting all three 3-point attempts playing 33 minutes.
•    Brayden Shorter is averaging 6.0 ppg and 2.2 rpg … of his 48 rebounds this season, 16 have been offensive.
•    Jake Schadegg is averaging 4.9 ppg and 1.4 apg and scored eight points against UCO last time out.
•    Emmanuel Byrd is scoring 4.1 ppg with 3.4 rpg,
•    Zaid Dajani is scoring 1.8 ppg and Kevin Eman is averaging 1.2 ppg.
•    Washburn is third the MIAA in 3-pointers made per game at 7.9 per contest.
•    The Ichabods are first in the MIAA in scoring averaging 77.7 ppg and ranked eighth in scoring defense allowing 71.2 ppg.
•    Washburn is +6.4 in rebounding margin this season which is second in the MIAA and ranked 15th nationally … the Ichabods also leading the MIAA in total rebounds at 37.8 per game.
•    The Ichabods will be without Jordan Vincent, Bradley Lightbourne, Tyson Ruud and Zach Davidson who will miss the season after injuries, surgeries or recovering from recent surgeries.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD ...
•    is 133-72 in his seventh season as the Ichabods' head coach and 166-102 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 8-5 against Central Oklahoma.
 
CENTRAL OKLAHOMA HEAD COACH BOB HOFFMAN ...
•    is 91-51 in his fifth season as the Bronchos' head coach and 610-371 in his 30th year overall as a head coach.
•    came to UCO from Mercer, where he led the Bears of Macon, Ga. to 209 wins in his 11-year stint there.
•    Hoffman won 209 games at Mercer from 2008-19, including 119 conference games. He led the Bears to its first ever NCAA Tournament win in 2014 – a major upset of Duke in the opening round of March Madness. And he also became the first coach in NCAA history to win a tournament game in all four Division I postseason tournaments in a four-year span.
•    is 3-5 against Washburn.
  •    Central Oklahoma is 17-8 and 9-8 in the MIAA coming off a 66-62 loss at Fort Hays State last time out.
•    Jaden Wells leads two Bronchos in double-figure scoring at 19.8 ppg and Danquez Dawsey is scoring 13.3 ppg. Wells leads in the MIAA in scoring average by 1.3 ppg over Wes Dreamer.
•    UCO is fourth in the MIAA in scoring behind the Ichabods at 76.2 ppg and the Bronchos are fourth in scoring defense at 65.2 ppg while second in the MIAA in scoring margin at 11.0 ppg.
•    UCO is 7-3 in home games this season.
  •    Saturday's meeting will be the 40th in the series history which the Ichabods lead 20-19.
•    Washburn has won 10 of the last 14 meetings and two straight.
•    The Ichabods lost the first match up as MIAA schools on Jan. 5, 2013 in a 72-67 loss in Edmond and in the MIAA tournament quarterfinals on March 3, 2013 in a 99-88 defeat in Kansas City.
•    Washburn's two highest-scoring combined games in school history came against UCO. In 1992 the two teams scored 246 points (132-114, UCO) and in 1998 they scored 218 points (111-107, UCO).
•    In the Jan. 13, 2018 meeting, the 49 points was the fewest by the Ichabods in a win in the shot clock era and the 96 combined points were the second fewest scored by Washburn and its opponent in the shot clock era.
•    In 39 all-time meetings, the Ichabods have averaged 76.6 points per game with the Bronchos.
•    WU is 12-3 in games against UCO in Topeka winning the last eight games in Lee Arena … UCO's last win in Topeka came on Feb. 20, 2016 in a 71-60 victory.
  (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.         TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods fell 75-72 to the No. 12 Northwest Missouri Bearcats on Saturday afternoon in Lee Arena.
In a game that saw 15 lead changes and six ties, the two teams were tied with 2:47 to play after a pair of made free throws by Andrew Orr, but Andrew Mascari hit on of his nine 3-pointers on the afternoon to put the Bearcats up 69-66 with 2:18 remaining. Northwest pushed their lead to four at 71-67, but the Ichabods cut the lead back to one after a layup by Brady Christiansen with 14 seconds to play.
After an Ichabod foul, Northwest hit two free throws to go up four but a 3-pointer by Michael Keegan cut the lead to one with six seconds to play at 73-72. Northwest hit a layup with four seconds to go going up three, and Washburn's 3-pointer at the buzzer missed as the Ichabods fell for the first time at home this season.
Washburn (15-8, 11-6 MIAA) led 39-38 at the break after trailing by as many as eight in the first half using a 9-0 run toward the end of the half going into the locker room.
Washburn was led by Keegan's 16 points hitting all three 3-point attempts adding seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. Jack Bachelor and Orr both had 12 points.
Mascari led the Bearcats (19-4, 15-2 MIAA) scoring 27 points on 9 of 12 shooting from 3-point range. Bennett Stirtz had 19 points and Daniel Abreu and Byron Alexander each had 10.
Washburn was outrebounded 28 to 25 in the game. The Ichabods forced 14 Bearcat turnovers leading to 15 points while Washburn turned it over only five times in the game.
The Ichabods finished 23 of 51 for the game shooting 44 percent going 7 of 18 from 3-point range and 19 of 27 from the free throw line. Northwest finished 24 of 43 hitting 14 of 24 3-pointers (58 percent) after going 8 of 11 in the first half from deep. •    The Ichabods are 1,684-1,130-2 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 688-323 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 497-103 (.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 returns home for three of their final four games starting with Lincoln on Feb. 22 followed by Central Missouri on Feb. 24. After their final regular season road game of the season at Missouri Southern on Feb. 28, Washburn will face Emporia State on senior day on March 2.