• The No. 2-ranked Washburn Ichabods will play their first true road game of the season as they travel to Liberty, Mo. to take on the William Jewell Cardinals on Saturday at 3 p.m.
• Washburn enters the game 5-0 after wins after topping the Cardinals' fellow GLVC member Rockhurst on Nov. 19 in Lee Arena in an 85-81 win.
• William Jewell is coming off a 77-72 win over Emporia State on Nov. 19 and they are 2-1 overall this season.
• With the win over the Hawks on Nov. 19, the Ichabods improved to 40-1 all-time in their home openers. The lone loss was on Nov. 16, 1990 to Friends, 89-88. Since then the Ichabods have won 35 consecutive home openers.
• The Ichabods are coming off one of the best seasons in program history with an NCAA Final Four appearance, an NCAA Central Regional Championship and an MIAA regular season title with a 30-4 overall record after going 17-2 in MIAA play.
• The Ichabods have recorded 31, 20-win seasons in program history and five under Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard in his eight seasons receiving four NCAA postseason berths coaching the 2024-25 squad to only the program's second 30-win season in school history.
• The 2025-26 season marks the 121st season of Ichabod basketball.
•  The Washburn Ichabods were picked atop the MIAA Preseason Coaches and Media polls released Oct. 6 by the league office. In the MIAA Coaches Poll, Washburn received 13 of 14 first-place votes, tallying 169 points, finishing ahead of Rogers State which had one first-place vote and 141 total points. In the MIAA media poll, the Ichabods received 23 of 25 first-place votes from the media for 346 total points. Fort Hays State had one first-place vote and 297 points, and Rogers State had a first-place vote and 286 total points.
  • The Ichabods are ninth in scoring margin in the NCAA D2 ranks at +25.4 and ninth in field goal percentage at 54.4 percent - that also leads the MIAA …Washburn is also 13th in assists per game (20.0), 16th in assist/turnover ration (1.64) and 14th in effective field goal percentage (.610).
• Jack Bachelor leads the nation in 3-pointers made with 16 and Dillon Claussen is eighth in the nation in double doubles with two … Claussen is also 13th in the nation in field goal percentage at 78.4, eighth in total rebounds with 40 … Jeremiah Jones leads the nation in total steals with 18 and is ranked 13th in steals per game at 3.60 per contest.
• Washburn has a 17-game home court winning streak which is tied for the fifth-longest in the D2 ranks.
• The Ichabods led the NCAA D2 ranks in cumulative attendance last season with 35,633  and also led the nation in average attendance at 2,229 per game.
 
 COACHESWASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD ...
• is 172-79 in his ninth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 205-109 overall in his 11th year as a head coach.
• has led the Ichabods to five NCAA postseason appearances in eight seasons at Washburn as well as the 2021 MIAA Tournament Championship and the 2025 MIAA Regular season title.
• 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 2-4 against William Jewell going 2-2 while at Washburn.
   
WILLIAM JEWELL HEAD COACH CHRIS MCCABE  ...
• is in his seventh season at the helm of the Cardinal program.
• is 80-91 overall.
• earned his undergraduate degree in social science at Kansas State and a master's in educational administration from Northwest Missouri State
• is 2-2 against the Ichabods.
  • William Jewell is coming off a 77-72 win over Emporia State on Nov. 19 and they are 2-1 overall this season.
• The Cardinals' other win came against Purdue Northwest in their season opener in a 79-66 win.
• William Jewell is averaging 70.3 ppg while allowing 67.0 ppg and they are -6.3 in rebound margin this season.
• Justice Sutton leads the team in scoring at 17.7 ppg.
• Isaac Patterson is scoring 14.7 ppg with a team-high 7.0 rpg and Kyle Scharbrough is scoring 12.7 ppg.
  • The Ichabods lead the series 14-7 after winning last season in Topeka in an 81-73 win.
• The Ichabods are 5-4 in road games and 9-3 in home contests and have won 7 of the last 10 overall.
• The Ichabods have lost their last two games in a row played in Liberty with their last win coming on Dec. 1, 1988 in a 76-58 win.
• The first meeting in the series was a 19-17 loss by the Ichabods on Feb. 3, 1911 in Liberty.
  (Nov. 23, 2024) TOPEKA, Kan. – The No. 5 Washburn Ichabods put up 52 points in the second half turning a 3-point halftime lead into an 8-point win over William Jewell on Saturday in Lee Arena.
Washburn scored 12 of the first 15 points of the game taking the 12-3 lead 3:19 into the game before the Cardinals (3-2) came back to cut the lead to 14-10 before the Ichabods scored six straight points to go up 20-10 after the second media timeout.
With Washburn leading 24-12, William Jewell tied the score at 24 after a 12-0 run over a 5:37 stretch before a Jack Bachelor 3-pointer with 2:35 ended the Ichabod drought as Washburn took a 29-26 lead into the break.
Starting the second half, Brayden Shorter connected on a 3-pointer before a mini 5-0 spurt by the Cardinals cut the lead to one at 32-31 with 18:07 to play. The teams traded jumpers before Shorter hit another 3-pointer putting Washburn up four at 37-33 with 16:12 remaining. A dunk by the Cardinals cut the difference back to two at 37-35.
The Ichabods (6-0) led by no more than five with 12:07 to go until a 10-1 run midway through the half pushed Washburn up by 12 with 7:13 left and the Cardinals would not get within eight until 24 seconds and 11 seconds to play for the final margin.
Jacob Hanna led the Ichabods with 19 points adding eight rebounds and six assists as he finished 9 of 10 from the free throw line. He paced five Ichabods in double digits as Shorter had 19, Jack Bachelor had 14 and Andrew Orr had 12 along with Brady Christiansen who also had seven rebounds.
Jason Thirdkill, Jr. and Jordan Jermain each had 17 to lead William Jewell.
The Ichabods, who were held to 41 percent shooting in the first half heated up to 71 percent in the second half hitting 17 of 24 shots overall going 6 of 9 from deep and 12 of 14 from the free throw line scoring the 51 points. William Jewell was ranked 19th in the nation in scoring offense allowing only 61 points per game.
Washburn outrebounded the Cardinals 32 to 23 in the game as William Jewell had 12 offensive rebounds and 11 defensive boards. Washburn led for 39:08 of the game overall.
  (Nov. 19, 2025) TOPEKA, Kan. – The No. 2-ranked Washburn Ichabods remained unbeaten with an 85–81 win over Rockhurst on Wednesday night in Lee Arena, turning a five-point deficit with 2:29 to play into a four-point win improving to 5–0 on the season.
The Ichabods' first major push came just over eight minutes into the game. Protecting a slim 6–5 lead, Washburn broke the game open with a 9–0 burst as Jeremiah Jones started the run with a driving finish, and Bryson Smith followed with a steal and layup in transition. Jack Bachelor capped the surge with a floating jumper, as Washburn built a ten-point lead at 15–5. Moments later, Dillon Claussen muscled in a second-chance basket and added two trips to the free-throw line as the Ichabods continued to extend the margin.
The Ichabods shot 54.2 percent in the opening period while holding the Hawks to 36.7 percent, boosting the lead to as many as 11 and taking a 42–34 advantage into the locker room.
Washburn's strongest stretch came early in the second half when it pushed the lead to a game-high 15 at 62–47. Rockhurst responded with its best stretch of the night, using an 11–0 run to quickly close the gap. The Hawks (2-1) hit three 3-pointers in less than four minutes taking a 79-74 lead with 2:29 to go.
From that point on the Ichabods outscored the Hawks 11-2 the rest of the game led by Smith's driving layup with 51 seconds remaining to give the Ichabods an 81–79 lead.
After a key defensive stop, Tyson Ruud stepped to the line and split a pair of free throws to extend the edge by one possession. The Hawks came up empty on the following trip, and when Sam Ungashick secured a steal in the final seconds and sank two free throws with three seconds left, the game was sealed.
Smith led the Ichabods with 22 points on 9-of-18 shooting, six perfect free throws, four rebounds and five assists. Bachelor added 17 points and three assists and Claussen scored 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Ruud came off the bench for 13 points and six rebounds, shooting 3-for-3 from the field and providing toughness on both ends. Jones added 16 points on an efficient 7-of-12 shooting night.
Washburn converted 22 of its 30 shots inside the arc and earned 38 trips to the free-throw line. The Ichabods also held advantages in bench points (24–8), fast-break scoring (15–7) and paint points (44–20).
Drenin Dinkins led the Hawks with a game-high 26 points going 5 of 11 from deep as Rockhurst hit 11 of 24 3-pointers in the game and 24 of 30 free throws.
The Ichabods improved to 40-1 and have now won 35 consecutive home openers.
The Ichabods shot 55 percent from the field and outscored the Hawks 44–20. Washburn also leaned on its transition game, turning defensive rebounds and turnovers into 15 fast-break points.
Overall there were 50 combined fouls called and 68 combined free throws between the two teams. Washburn finished 26 of 38 overall from the line in the contest.
  • The Ichabods are 1,713-1,137-2 all-time in the 121st year in the program's history.
• Washburn is the seventh-winningest program in NCAA Division II history by victories.
• Washburn is 715-328 since joining the conference and the NCAA.
• The Ichabods have recorded 31 20-win seasons and they have two 30-win seasons after going 35-4 during the 1986-87 NAIA Championship season and after the 2024-25 season's 30-4 record.
• Washburn has won 22 conference championships including 11 MIAA titles.
• Washburn has received 16 NCAA Tournament bids going to four Elite Eight's appearing in the 2001 NCAA National Championship game.
  • The Ichabods are 516-104 (.831) all-time in Lee Arena.
• The 2025-26 season marks the 41st season of play in Lee Arena.
• The Ichabods are 40-1 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 facing Friends on Nov. 25 and then following the Thanksgiving break, the Ichabods will host Ottawa at 2 p.m. on Nov. 29 before opening MIAA play hosting Nebraska-Kearney on Dec. 4 and Fort Hays State on Dec. 6.