•    The No. 1-ranked Washburn Ichabods will hit the road for a pair of games starting with Northwest Missouri on Wednesday in Maryville, Mo. for their second game with the Bearcats in 11 days.
•    The Ichabods moved to 17-0 and 8-0 in the MIAA after defeating Newman 121-73 on Saturday in Lee Arena.
•    The Bearcats are 4-13 and 2-6 in the MIAA after falling 72-65 at Fort Hays State on Jan. 18 in their third-straight loss.
•    The Ichabods won the last meeting with the Bearcats 96-66 on Jan. 11 in Lee Arena.
•    Playing as the No. 1-ranked team in the nation in the NCAA ranks, the Ichabods are 6-2.
•    The top-10 rankings places the Ichabods in the top five for eight-straight weeks for the first time in program history.
•    The Ichabods are off to their best start to begin the season at 17-0 since starting the 2003-04 season 16-0 en route to the MIAA regular season championship.
•    The Ichabod record for the most wins to start the season is 19 coming in the 1992-93 season.
•    The Ichabods are now one of two undefeated teams remaining in the NCAA Division II ranks joining No. 2 Daemen (14-0).
•    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.
  •    Andrew Orr became the 28th member of the Ichabod 1,000 point club with a free throw at Fort Hays State earlier this season … he now has 1,133 career points sitting in 17th all-time passing Mike Dickerson who scored 1,130 points from 1986-90… next on the chart is Jemi Johnson in 16th with 1,215 career points from 1992-95.
•    Michael Keegan has 921 career points in 113 career games as an Ichabod and he has moved into sixth all-time at Washburn in career blocks with 93 needing one more to move into the top five all-time at Washburn passing Bobby Chipman who had 94 from 2009-13 … he is also fifth all-time  in steals with 141.
•    The Ichabods are fifth in the nation in rebound margin at +9.9, fifth in the nation in field goal percentage at 51.9 percent, 12th in scoring defense allowing 64.9 ppg and third in scoring margin at +22.6 … in eight MIAA games, the Ichabods are +25.3 in scoring margin leading the MIAA … the next closest team is Fort Hays State at +6.9 ppg.
•    Jacob Hanna is 23rd in the nation in free throws made with 90 and 23rd in attempts with 118.
•    Andrew Orr is 17th in the nation in field goal percentage at 63.2.
•    Michael Keegan is seventh in the nation and leading the MIAA in steals with 48 and he is ranked eighth in steals per game at 2.82 per game.
•    Brayden Shorter is seventh in the nation in 3-pointers per game at 3.56 and he's ranked seventh in total 3-pointers made at 57.
•    The Ichabods have 1,693 all-time program wins in. The Ichabods would be the seventh NCAA D2 program to reach the 1,700 win mark. WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD ...
•    is 154-75 in his eighth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 187-108 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.
•    is 4-18 against Northwest Missouri.
 
NORTHWEST MISSOURI HEAD COACH MATT KEELEY ...
•    was named the 21st head men's basketball coach in Northwest history.
•    is 4-13 in his first season in Maryville and 117-99 overall in eight seasons.
•    served as the head coach at Ottawa University Arizona for seven seasons going 113-92.
•    spent two seasons as an assistant for Bob Chipman for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons … his father Mike is in the Washburn athletic hall of fame and his sister Cindy was a member of the 2005 Lady Blues Basketball National Championship team.
•    he 0-1 against the Ichabods.
  •    The Bearcats are 4-13 this season and 2-6 in the MIAA after a 72-65 loss at Fort Hays State last time out.
•    Emorie Knox leads the team in scoring with 12.4 ppg and Spencer Schomers is scoring 10.1 ppg. Luke Moustakas is scoring 8.8 ppg.
•    The Bearcats are averaging 62.4 ppg while allowing 70.4 ppg.
  •    Wednesday's meeting will be the 123rd between the two schools and Washburn holds a 64-58 lead in the series.
•    The series dates back to the 1940-41 season and they have played each other every year since WU joined the MIAA in 1989-90.
•    The Ichabods are 22-17 against the Bearcats in Lee Arena.
•    Washburn is 26-26 in Maryville.
•    In the MIAA Tournament, the Ichabods are 4-9 against Northwest after falling in the 2018, 2019 and 2022 MIAA Championship games before winning the 2021 Tournament in Maryville.
•    In the NCAA Tournament, the Ichabods are 2-3 against the Bearcats.
•    The Ichabods won a NCAA Central Regional final contest against the Bearcats in Topeka on March 10, 2001 advancing to the Elite Eight in Bakersfield, California after a 67-61 win.
  (Jan. 18, 2025) TOPEKA, Kan. – The No. 1-ranked Washburn Ichabods hit the 100-point mark with 9:15 to play in the game rolling to a 121-73 win over the Newman Jets improving to 17-0 and 8-0 in the MIAA on Saturday afternoon in Lee Arena.
The Jets (10-7, 3-5 MIAA) scored the first points of the game and led for 2:33 before the Ichabods used a 16-3 run taking a 21-11 lead midway through the first half with points by five different Ichabods. The Ichabods continued the run with another 18-2 run taking a 40-18 lead with 7:31 to play in the first half.  Washburn would go on to take a 60-32 lead into the break after shooting 50 percent in the first half while hitting 7 of 16 3-pointers in the frame.
Starting the second half, the Ichabods scored 16 of the first 22 points doubling up the Jets at 76-38 with 16:45 to play as the Jets trailed by no fewer than 40 points the final 12:12 of the game as the Ichabods led by as many as 55 with 7:43 to play in the game rolling to the 48-point win.
Jacob Hanna paced the Ichabods with a game-high 26 points on 9 of 11 shooting from the field. He also raised his collegiate point total to 1,006 points scoring 745 at Illinois Springfield and 261 as an Ichabod. Brayden Shorter scored 18 points hitting three 3-pointers and Andrew Orr finished with 17 points drawing eight fouls. Jack Bachelor recorded his first double double with 13 points and 10 assists adding seven rebounds. Dillon Claussen came off the bench scoring 11 points with five boards and three blocks. Playing infront of the fan club that bears his name, scored nine points with four rebounds and a career-high seven steals.
Aaron Murphy had 19 points to lead the Jets.
Washburn, who entered the game trailing the Jets in rebounding in the MIAA stats, outrebounded Newman 43 to 28 including 12 offensive rebounds leading to 18 second chance points.
Washburn finished the game shooting 58 percent at 40 of 69 from the field after shooting 65 percent in the second half. Washburn finished 14 of 30 from 3-point range and was 27 of 34 from the free throw line. •    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 700-325 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.
  •    The Ichabods are 507-104 (.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.
  •    The Ichabods will continue their season on the road at Missouri Western on Jan. 25 before beginning another three-game stretch in Lee Arena with Fort Hays State (Jan. 30), Nebraska-Kearney (Feb. 1) and Central Missouri (Feb. 8).