•    The Washburn Ichabods will hit the road for the final time in the regular season as they will face Missouri Southern on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Joplin, Mo.
•    Washburn (17-9, 13-7 MIAA) topped Central Missouri on Feb. 24 in Topeka in a 68-49 win.
•    The Lions are 13-13 (11-9 MIAA) after falling 67-65 at No. 14-ranked Fort Hays State on Saturday.
•    The Ichabods won the first meeting between the two teams on Jan. 17 in Topeka in a 70-65 win in a game the Lions hit 14 3-pointers.
•    Wednesday's meeting will be 91st between these two schools in a series that dates back to 1968-69.
•    Washburn leads the all-time series 52-37 … the Ichabods have averaged 77.9 points a game against the Lions in the 90 previous meetings.
•    Washburn is 19-22 in road contests against the Lions.
•    The Ichabods, who have already clinched a spot in the MIAA Tournament in Kansas City, are in a three-way tie for third in the MIAA standings with Pittsburg State and Rogers State at 13-7.  Northwest Missouri (18-2) and Fort Hays State (16-5) lead the league standings with three games to play. Missouri Southern is 11-9 tied with Central Oklahoma and Emporia State. If the Ichabods, Gorillas and Hillcats remain tied for third, the Ichabods would have the tiebreaker by virtue of 3-0 record against the tied teams. Rogers State is 1-2 and Pittsburg State is 0-2.
•    The Ichabods received votes in the latest NABC Top 25 Coaches Poll.
•    Washburn will wrap up the regular season in Lee Arena hosting 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 13.5 ppg this season … he is shooting 54 percent from the field hitting 142 of 258 attempts … he is fifth in the MIAA in field goal percentage and ranks eighth on Washburn's all-time shooting percentage chart at 58 percent (343 of 599) … Orr also moved into 49th on Washburn's all-time scoring chart with 838 career points.
•    Sam Ungashick is scoring 12.6 ppg averaging 3.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game … he leads the team with team with 38 steals.
•    Jack Bachelor is scoring 11.7 ppg this season and leads the team with 96 assists and was named the MIAA Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 8 … Bachelor has scored 305 points this season, which is seventh on the Ichabod freshman season scoring chart and his 41 3-pointers are fifth … he scored 19 in the first game with Missouri Southern.
•    Brady Christiansen is averaging 8.2 ppg with a team-high 6.8 rpg … he is fifth in the MIAA in rebound average and is fourth 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 368 midway through his sophomore season …he needs three rebounds to move in to the sophomore class top 10 in season rebounds.
•    Jarmell Johnson is averaging 7.6 ppg and 3.2 rpg … he has hit at least one 3-pointer in six of the last seven games.
•    Michael Keegan is scoring 7.2 ppg with 5.3 rpg.
•    Brayden Shorter is averaging 7.1 ppg and 2.4 rpg … he scored a career-high 25 points against Lincoln last week including scoring 16 straight points in the second half … he scored 14 in the first meeting with Missouri Southern hitting 4 of 9 3-point attempts.
•    Jake Schadegg is averaging 4.9 ppg and 1.4 apg and scored eight points against UCO last time out.
•    Emmanuel Byrd is scoring 4.0 ppg with 3.3 rpg … he scored eight in the first meeting with the Lions.
•    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 7.7 per contest and Missouri Southern is sixth at 6.8 per game.
•    The Ichabods are second in the MIAA in scoring averaging 77.1 ppg and ranked eighth in scoring defense allowing 70.4 ppg … the Lions are sixth in scoring offense at 73.6 ppg and 10th in scoring defense at 71.2 ppg.
•    Washburn is +6.3 in rebounding margin this season which is second in the MIAA and ranked 18th nationally … the Ichabods lead the MIAA in total rebounds at 37.6 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 135-73 in his seventh season as the Ichabods' head coach and 168-103 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 7-6 against Missouri Southern.
 
MISSOURI SOUTHERN HEAD COACH SEAN McMAHON ...
•    is 30-26 in his second season as Missouri Southern's head coach.
•    he is in his second stint roaming the sidelines at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center as he served as an assistant and later associate head coach for the Lions for six seasons.
•    he was an assistant coach at Division I Southeast Missouri for the past two seasons.
•    is 1-2 against Washburn.
  •    The Lions are 13-13 overall and 11-9 in MIAA contests going 7-4 in home games this season.
•    Darius Dawson leads five Lions averaging double figures at 14.5 ppg with a team-best 6.6 rebounds per game adding 30 blocks. Dawson is ranked fifth in the MIAA in scoring, seventh in rebounding and sixth in blocks. Vinson Sigmon, Jr. is scoring 12.2 with Martin Macenis is scoring 11.2 ppg followed by Cam Williams who is scoring 10.5 ppg.
  •    Wednesday's meeting will be 91st between these two schools in a series that dates back to 1968-69.
•    Washburn leads the all-time series 52-37 … the Ichabods have averaged 77.9 points a game against the Lions in the 90 previous meetings.
•    Washburn is 33-12 against the Lions in home games and 19-22 in road contests.
•    The two teams have met at least once a year since 1976-77.
•    The Ichabods are 3-2 against the Lions in the MIAA Tournament.
•    In games played in Lee Arena, the Ichabods are 26-10.
•    The teams have met three times in the NCAA Tournament - on March 10, 2000 when the Lions picked up a 79-73 overtime win in Joplin and on March 12, 2011 when the Lions topped the Ichabods in overtime again 82-79 in Edmond, Okla., and March 16, 2019 in Maryville, Mo. with the Lions winning 101-100.
  (Jan. 17, 2024) TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods moved to 8-0 at home with a 70-65 win over Missouri Southern on Wednesday night in Lee Arena rallying from a seven-point deficit early in the second half for the victory.
With the Ichabods (11-5, 7-3 MIAA) trailing by a game-high seven with 17:40 to play in the game with the Lions in front 38-31, Jack Bachelor ignited a 15-2 run over the next 5:05 scoring nine points during the run pushing the Ichabods up 46-40.
Missouri Southern (6-10, 4-6 MIAA) cut the Washburn lead to three at 53-50 after hitting back-to-back 3-pointers, however the Ichabods used a 5-0 mini run to go up 58-50 with 7:12 left. Washburn them would miss its next five shots as the Lions used an 8-0 of their own to tie the score at 58 at the 3:21 mark.
The teams traded a pair of free throws and a jumper as the score remained deadlocked at 60, but Bachelor hit a pair of free throws and Andrew Orr hit a turnaround jumper putting Washburn up by four with 76 seconds to go.
The Lions cut the lead to two with under a minute to go, but the Ichabods finished the game 6 of 6 from the free throw line (4 of 4 by Brady Christiansen, 2 of 2 by Bachelor) en route to a 15 of 15 Ichabod team performance for the five-point win.
Washburn trailed by one at the break at 30-29 after the Lions hit 7 of 14 3-point attempts in the opening 20 minutes after entering the game averaging 6.9 per contest. For the game the Lions hit 14 of 30 3-pointers overall. The Ichabods led by as many as 12 in the first half before the Lions used a run to take the halftime lead.
Bachelor led the Ichabods with 19 points adding four assists. Brayden Shorter scored eight of his career-high 14 in the first half hitting four 3-pointers in nine attempts. Christiansen scored 10 adding five rebounds. Orr had a team-high boards with seven. The Ichabod bench outscored the Lions subs 41 to 27 in the game.
Winston Dessesow scored 19 off the bench to tie for game-high honors.
The Ichabods finished the game shooting 41 percent hitting 24 of 59 shots while hitting a total of seven 3-pointers in 32 attempts. The Ichabods outrebounded the Lions 36 to 33.     (Feb. 24, 2024) TOPEKA, Kan. -- Four players scored in double figures for the Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team in a balanced effort to give them a 68-49 win over Central Missouri on Saturday afternoon.
The Mules started the game on a 7-2 run in the first 3:30 of action but the next 10 points all came from the Ichabods, beginning with a layup for Andrew Orr who had six of the first nine points for the home team. After the opening few minutes Washburn tightened its defense on Central Missouri, holding them to just 6-25 shooting (24 percent) in the first half.
After a 3-pointer fell through for the Mules at the 6:59 mark of the half which cut the lead to three, the Ichabods closed on a 13-2 run. In the final 11-0 burst before the half Brayden Shorter and Jack Bachelor combined to score eight of the 11 to lead 33-19 at the break.
Central Missouri came out of halftime firing, sinking back-to-back 3-pointers and cutting the lead to eight, but would score just two points in the next 5:30 of action. Bachelor and Sam Ungashick each connected on a 3-pointer to spur a 10-0 run and push the lead up to 20 points at the 13:40 mark in the second half.
Inside of 10 minutes the Ichabods (17-9, 13-7 MIAA) went on a 13-2 run capped off by another three from Bachelor to make the lead a game-high 30 points with 4:41 left to play. The Mules scored down the stretch but it came too late and Washburn was able to settle into a 68-49 win.
Jarmell Johnson led the Ichabods with 14 points adding five rebounds in the win. Ungashick finished with 12 followed by Shorter with 11 and Bachelor with 10. Orr had nine points, nine rebounds and four blocks adding three assists.
Keith Kiner III led the Mules (11-15, 6-14 MIAA) with 14 points.
All ten active players logged minutes for the Ichabods who shot 25-57 (43.9 percent) in the game and made eight shots from behind the arc. On the other end of the court WU held Central Missouri to 19-59 (32.3 percent) shooting in the game including just 7 of 26 (27 percent) from 3-point range.
Washburn outscored the Mules 32 to 12 in the paint and 14 to 2 in fast break points while recording a 42-31 advantage on the glass. The Ichabods also had only six turnovers in the game. •    The Ichabods are 1,686-1,131-2 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 690-324 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 499-103 (.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 to host Emporia State on senior day on March 2 as Levi Braun and Zach Davidson will be honored before the game. Seeding for the MIAA Championship Tournament in Kansas City running from March 6-10 at historic Municipal Auditorium.