• The No. 2-ranked Washburn Ichabods are back in action for the first time in 2025 facing Emporia State on the road on Saturday at 1:40 in Emporia in the MIAA Game of the Week on 38 TheSpot in Kansas City.
• The Ichabods are 12-0 and 3-0 in the MIAA after picking up a 70-52 win over Central Missouri on Dec. 21 in their last action.
• The Hornets are 4-8 and 1-2 in league play after falling to Central Missouri at home on Jan. 2 in a 72-69 loss.
• The Ichabods and Hornets will play again on Jan. 15 in Topeka - 11 days after Saturday's meeting.
• The Ichabods were ranked No. 2 in the latest NABC top 25 coaches poll and third in the latest D2CIDA poll released on Dec. 31.
• The ranking is the highest by an Ichabod team since earning a No. 2 ranking on Dec. 18, 2012.
• The top-10 rankings marks the last time the Ichabods were in the top 10 for five straight weeks since Nov. 27, 2012 to Jan. 8, 2013 when the Ichabods were ranked second for four-straight weeks and were tabbed No. 8 in week five.
• Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard is 149-75 in his eighth season as the Ichabods' head coach looking for win No. 150 on the Ichabod sidelines in his 225th game.
• The Ichabods are off to their best start to begin the season at 12-0 since starting the 2003-04 season 16-0 en route to the MIAA regular season championship.
• The Ichabods are one of five undefeated teams remaining in the NCAA Division II ranks joining Minot State (15-0), Pace (13-0), Nova Southeastern (12-0) and Daemen (11-0).
• 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 last time out … he now has 1,035 career points moving into 22nd all time passing Travis Robbins who scored 1,051 points in two seasons … next on the scoring chart is Ron Ford who scored 1,055 points from 1962-66 and then Alex North who scored 1,082 points from 2010-15.
• Michael Keegan has 872 career points in 108 career games as an Ichabod and he has moved into sixth all-time at Washburn in career blocks with 88 … he also moved into the top 10 on the all-time steal chart with 122.
• The Ichabods are ninth in the nation in rebound margin at +10.7 and ninth in scoring defense at 61.8 ppg and sixth in scoring margin at +20.8.
• Jacob Hanna is 19th in the nation in free throws made with 69 and 12th in attempts with 93.
• Andrew Orr is 20th in the nation in field goal percentage at 63.8.
• Michael Keegan is 26th in the nation and leading the MIAA in steals with 29 and he is ranked 22nd in steals per game at 2.42 per game.
• Brayden Shorter is fifth in the nation in 3-pointers per game at 3.83 and he's ranked seventh in total 3-pointers made at 46.
• Jacob Hanna is closing in on 1,000 points in his collegiate career between Washburn and Illinois-Springfield - between both schools he has scored 912 career points.
• The Ichabods have 1,688 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 149-75 in his eighth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 182-108 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 7-6 against Emporia State.
 
EMPORIA STATE HEAD COACH TOM BILLETER ...
• is 494-283 in his 27th season as a head coach and is 4-8 in his first season at Emporia State.
• went 393-224 in 21 years at Augustana winning the 2016 National Championship
• led the Vikings to nine NCAA Tournaments, three regular season NSIC Championships, two NSIC Tourney Championships and 18 consecutive winning seasons.
• is 2-2 against Washburn both coming while at Augustana.
 
  • The Hornets are 4-8 this season and 1-3 in the MIAA after falling at home to Central Missouri on Jan. 2 in a 72-69 loss.
• Malik Edwards, Jr. is averaging 13.3 ppg leading the team and Brayson Laube is scoring 12.1 ppg while Arman Lewis is scoring 11.3 ppg.
  • The meeting on Saturday will be the 222nd meeting between the two schools and the Ichabods lead at 113-108. This is the most-played series for Washburn
• The Ichabods have lost the last four meetings to the Hornets after winning the four before those.
• The two teams started the series in 1905-06, Washburn's first recorded year of basketball, and they have met every year since the 1945-56 season.
• The home team has won 17 of the last 22 meetings.
• The Ichabods are 44-60 against the Hornets on the road.
• Washburn is 5-1 against Emporia State in MIAA Postseason tournament games.
  (Dec. 21, 2024) WARRENSBURG, Mo. – The No. 2-ranked Washburn Ichabods will head into the holiday break at 12-0 (3-0 MIAA) after a 70-52 win over Central Missouri in 2024 calendar year. 
The Ichabods started the game on a 6-0 run two-plus minutes into the contest and built the early lead up to 9-1 holding the Mules without a field goal for the first 4:53 of the game. The Mules twice led by four in the first half, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Sam Ungashick and Jack Bachelor doubled up the UCM score at 20-10 with 11:54 to play in the frame.
Washburn used a 10-0 run over two minutes to take a 30-12 lead with 9:00 to play in the opening half. A jumper by Bachelor and a fast break dunk by Andre Orr wrapped up the scoring in the frame.
Midway through the second, Washburn scored nine-straight points to go up 20 at 54-34 with 10:43 remaining. Washburn would lead by as many 22 with 4:14 to play on a Shorter jumper as the Mules scored the final five points of the game pulling UCM within 18 at the final buzzer.
Shorter led the Ichabods with 17 points adding seven boards and three steals pacing Washburn hitting 4 of 9 3-pointers. He led four Ichabods in double figures followed by Orr with 16 points on 7 of 9 shooting adding two blocks. Jacob Hannah had 15 with six rebounds and three assists and Bachelor tallied 13 points, five boards, five assists and three steals.
Jake Fritz was the only Mule (6-6, 1-2 MIAA) to reach double figures with 12 points.
Washburn outrebounded the Mules 38 to 24 and outshot the Mules 54 percent (25 of 46) to 36 percent (19 of 53). Washburn also outscored the Mules 36 to 18 in the paint in the win.
  • The Ichabods are 1,688-1,133-2 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 696-325 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 502-104 (.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 finally return home for games against Missouri Western on Jan. 8 and Northwest Missouri on Jan. 11 followed by another game with the Hornets on Jan. 15 and wrapping up the homestand with Newman on Jan. 18.