• The Washburn Ichabods are back inside Lee Arena for the first time since Jan. 20 as they will he hosting Missouri Western on Feb. 7.
• The Ichabods have been on the road going 2-2 with wins over Nebraska-Kearney and Rogers State.
• Washburn (14-7, 10-5 MIAA) is coming off a 75-66 loss at Northeastern State on Feb. 3 in Tahlequah … the loss dropped the Ichabods to 4-6 in road games this season.
• Missouri Western is 15-6 overall and 9-6 in the MIAA race, one game behind the Ichabods in the conference standings.
• The Ichabods won the first meeting this season against the Griffons 83-77 in St. Joseph.
• Wednesday's meeting will be the 106th in the history of the two programs with the Ichabods leading 61-44.
• The Ichabods have won six of the last eight and the last two played in Topeka.
• The Ichabods received votes in the latest NABC Top 25 Coaches Poll.
• 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 is leading the team in scoring 13.5 ppg this season going 55 of 64 from the free throw for an 85.9 percentage … he is shooting 57 percent from the field hitting 114 of 201 attempts … he is fifth in the MIAA in field goal percentage and ranks ninth on Washburn's all-time chart at 58 percent (311 of 546).
• Sam Ungashick is scoring 13.3 ppg averaging 3.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game … he leads the team with team with 32 steals … Ungashick had 26 points hitting 6 of 9 3-pointers in the first meeting with Missouri Western.
• Jack Bachelor is scoring 12.3 ppg this season and leads the team with 77 assists and was named the MIAA Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 8 … he's reached double figures in six-straight games … he has averaged 5.8 assists per game in the last three games scoring 11.0 ppg.
• Brady Christiansen is averaging 8.6 ppg with a team-high 7.4 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 346 midway through his sophomore season … his 6.9 rebounds per game for a career ranks 16th at Washburn all-time … he has recorded a double double in back to back games.
• Jarmell Johnson is averaging 7.7 ppg and 3.1 rpg … he scored 11 last time out against Northeastern State and missed the first meeting with Missouri Western with an injury.
• Michael Keegan is scoring 6.9 ppg with 5.5 rpg … for his career at Washburn he moved into the top 10 in all-time blocks with 73 … Keegan had 13 points and eight rebounds in the first meeting with Missouri Western.
• Brayden Shorter is averaging 6.3 scoring and 2.4 rpg scoring a career-high 20 points against the Lopers earlier this season.
• Jake Schadegg is averaging 5.3 ppg and 1.5 apg … he reached double figures with 10 points tying a season high with five assists against the Lopers earlier this season.
• Emmanuel Byrd is scoring 4.1 ppg with 3.4 rpg,
• Zaid Dajani is scoring 1.7 ppg and Kevin Eman is averaging 1.2 ppg.
• The Ichabods are 41st in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage and second in the MIAA 3-point shooting 38.4 percent hitting 165 of 435 attempts … 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 78.7 ppg and ranked eighth in scoring defense allowing 71.4 ppg.
• Washburn is +7.2 in rebounding margin this season which leads the MIAA and ranked ninth nationally … the Ichabods also leading the MIAA in total rebounds at 38.6 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 132-71 in his seventh season as the Ichabods' head coach and 165-101 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 11-6 against Missouri Western.
 
MISSOURI WESTERN HEAD COACH WILL MARTIN ...
• is 57-50 in his fourth season as the Griffons head coach after serving two seasons as an assistant coach.
• Martin, a Franklin, Tennessee native, also had three stops at NCAA Division I institutions before his arrival to St. Joseph.
• Most recently, Martin served assistant men's basketball coach and the director of athletic admissions at Martin Methodist College (NAIA).
• As a graduate student, Martin served as a graduate assistant and video coordinator for men's basketball at the University of Tulsa from 2013-2015.
• As an undergraduate, Martin served as a men's basketball manager at the University of Kentucky under head coach John Calipari. During Martin's tenure with the Wildcats, the team reached the Elite 8 on three occasions, the Final Four on two occasions and Martin served as the head manager of the 2012 National Championship team.
• Martin received his bachelors from the University of Kentucky in 2012 and obtained his Master's in Education from the University of Tulsa in 2015.
• He 4-6 against the Ichabods.
  • The Griffons are 15-6 and 9-6 in MIAA play after topping Nebraska-Kearney at home last time out 72-60.
• JaRon Thames leads the team in scoring at 15.4 ppg. Zion Swader s scoring 11.9 ppg followed by Julius Dixon 11.8 ppg and Taye Fields is nearly averaging a double double with 11.7 ppg and 9.4 rpg.
• Missouri Western has attempted five more free throws than its opponents this season making four more.
• The Griffons are averaging 74.3 ppg while allowing 67.5 ppg.
• The Griffons are 4-4 in road contests this season.
  • Saturday's meeting will be the 106th between the two schools with Washburn leading the series 61-44.
• The Ichabods are 53-36 against MWSU in MIAA games and 34-15 in games played in Topeka overall.
• The Ichabods are 24-26 in games played in St. Joseph against the Griffons.
• In the MIAA Tournament the Ichabods are 4-8 against the Griffons.
• The Ichabods lead 6-5 in overtime games including the 95-94 win on Jan. 9, 2019.
  (Dec. 16, 2023) ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The Washburn Ichabods picked up an 83-77 win over Missouri Western surviving a 19-2 run midway through the second half to improve to 6-4 and 2-2 in the MIAA. Washburn will host Northeastern State at 4 p.m. on Tuesday prior to leaving campus for Christmas break.
Washburn led 62-47 with 12:31 to go after back-to-back-to-back three pointers by Sam Ungashick, Jake Schadegg and Brady Christiansen before the Griffons came back with a 19-2 run over a 5:55 time period after they hit 8 of 11 while the Ichabods were limited to 1 of 10 shooting as Missouri Western took a 66-64 lead with 5:48 to go.
Michael Keegan hit a 3-pointer of his own to put the Ichabods back in front, but two free throws by Missouri Western (8-3, 3-3 MIAA) returned the Griffons to a 1-point lead at 68-67. Buckets by Christiansen and Ungashick pushed Washburn's lead back to four at 72-68 with 4:24 remaining, but the Griffons hit a deep 3-pointer cutting the lead to 72-71.
From the 3:34 mark to the end of the game, Washburn connected on 4 of its final 5 shots including using a 9-0 run taking an 81-71 lead with 1:13 to play. Missouri Western did not go away with back to back 3's by Josh Book and Zion Swader pulled the Griffons within four at 81-77, but Washburn closed out the game with a pair of free throws by Keegan and the six-point win.
Washburn led 44-39 at the break finishing the first 20 minutes on a 5-0 run after shooting 47 percent from the field. Missouri Western shot 59 percent from the field in the first half.
Ungashick led the Ichabods with a career-high 26 points hitting 9 of 16 shots and 6 of 9 from 3-point range. Keegan stuffed the stat sheet with a season-high 13 points with eight rebounds, a career-high six assists, four steals and a block. Jack Bachelor had 10 points in his first start of the season adding five assists and two steals and Christiansen had nine points and nine rebounds.
JaRon Thames led the Griffons with 16 points.
Washburn shot 45 percent for the game hitting 31 of 69 attempts overall and then hit 10 of 24 from 3-point land. The Griffons finished 30 of 53 overall shooting 57 percent from the field and 8 of 20 from 3-point range. The Ichabods also turned it over a season-best four times in the win. Washburn forced 14 turnovers in the game leading to 19 points.          TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Washburn Ichabods rallied from an 12-point first half deficit to take a 55-54 lead with 9:11 to play but was outscored 21-11 the rest of the way in a 75-66 loss at Northeastern State on Saturday afternoon.
Northeastern State (8-13, 3-12 MIAA) led by five at the break at 40-35 after shooting a blistering 68 percent from the field in the first half hitting 15 of 22 shots including a 6 of 9 performance from 3-point range.
The second half saw the Ichabods score 11-straight points midway through the half turning a 54-44 deficit into a 55-54 lead with 9:11 to go. The RiverHawks scored seven-straight of their own going up 61-55 with 6:11 to play. Washburn trimmed the lead back to two at 61-59 with 5:27 left, but back-to-back scores by the RiverHawks put the lead back to seven and Washburn (14-7, 10-5 MIAA) would not get closer than five the rest of the way.
Brady Christian led the Ichabods recording a double double with 15 points and 10 rebounds while Jarmell Johnson scored 11 and Jack Bachelor had 10 points and seven rebounds.
Caison Hartloff led five RiverHawks in double figures with 17.
Washburn finished 44 percent shooting from the field for the game hitting 26 of 59 while NSU was 28 of 52 overall for a 54 percent clip hitting 9 of 19 3-pointers in the ggame.. • The Ichabods are 1,683-1,129-2 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 687-322 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 496-102 (.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 will be back in Lee Arena on Saturday hosting Northwest Missouri at 3 p.m.