•    The No. 1-ranked Washburn Ichabods are on the road this weekend for first of their two road contests beginning at Arkansas-Fort Smith on Thursday night for only the second meeting in program history against the Lions. The Ichabods will face Northeastern State  on Feb. 15 before returning home for their final two regular season games hosting Central Oklahoma on Feb. 20 and Rogers State on Feb. 22 for senior day.
•    The Ichabods improved to 22-0 and 13-0 in the MIAA after defeating Central Missouri on Feb. 8 in Lee Arena.
•    The Lions enter the contest 9-13 overall and 3-10 in the MIAA coming off a 59-53 loss at Fort Hays State on Saturday.
•    Thursday's meeting with the Lions will be the only one between the two schools this season in the regular season.
•    The contest with the Lions will also be only the second in program history between Washburn and Arkansas-Fort Smith with the Ichabods winning the lone meeting on Nov. 12, 2011 in an 87-66 win in Bartlesville, Okla.
•    Playing as the No. 1-ranked team in the nation in the NCAA ranks, the Ichabods are 11-2 in program history.
•    The top-10 rankings places the Ichabods in the top five for 11-straight weeks for the first time in program history.
•    The Ichabods' previous record for the most wins to start the season was 19 coming in the 1992-93 season.
•    The Ichabods are one of two undefeated teams remaining in the NCAA Division II ranks joining No. 2 Daemen (20-0).
•    The Ichabods finished the 2023-24 season with a 19-11 record advancing to the MIAA Tournament semifinals.
•    The Ichabods have recorded 31, 20-win seasons and five under Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard in his eight seasons receiving  four NCAA postseason berths.
•    The 2024-25 season marks the 120th season of Ichabod basketball.
   •    The Ichabods have 1,698 all-time program wins in. The Ichabods would be the seventh NCAA D2 program to reach the 1,700 win mark. The last team to win at least 1,700 games was Fort Hays State earlier this season.
•    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 1,197 career points sitting in 17th all-time … next on the chart is Jemi Johnson in 16th with 1,215 career points from 1992-95.
•    Michael Keegan has 949 career points in 118 career games as an Ichabod and he has moved past Bobby Chipman into fifth place on the career blocks chart with 95 … he is also fourth all-time in steals with 149 and he went over the 200-assist mark against the earlier this season.
•    Jack Bachelor is sixth in the nation and leading the MIAA in assist to turnover radio at 3.47, 14th in total assists at 125 and 12th in assists per game with 5.7 …in the last nine games he has had 70 assists and 11 turnovers - a 6.4 to 1 ratio.
•    The Ichabods are second in the nation in rebound margin at +10.2, seventh in the nation in field goal percentage at 51.2 percent, 12th in scoring defense allowing 64.2 ppg and third in scoring margin at +22.5 … in 13 MIAA games, the Ichabods are +23.9 in scoring margin leading the MIAA  while averaging 88.0 ppg … the next closest team is Central Oklahoma at +8.3 ppg in scoring margin and 81.2 ppg.
•    Jacob Hanna is 30th in the nation in free throws made with 112 leading the MIAA and 22nd in attempts with 154 also leading the MIAA.
•    Andrew Orr is 14th in the nation in field goal percentage at 63.1 leading the MIAA.
•    Michael Keegan is eighth in the nation and leading the MIAA in steals with 58 and he is ranked ninth in steals per game at 2.64 per game.
•    Brayden Shorter is fourth in the nation in 3-pointers per game at 3.64 and he's ranked seventh in total 3-pointers made at 80 … his 80 3-pointers this season is second on the Ichabod sophomore record chart trailing Todd Alexander who hit 83 during the 1990-91 season and his total is seventh on the Ichabod single-season chart.
•    The Ichabods have recorded their 31st, 20-win season and fifth under Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard in his eighth season at the helm earlier this season.
   •    The Ichabods' current 22-game winning streak is the third-longest winning streak in program history and the longest to start a season.
•    Below are the top-10 longest winning streaks in program history.
         Wins ___Started_______ Ended
1.      25^___ 1/17/1987____ 11/23/1987
2.     23 _____12/17/1987___ 3/8/1988
3.     22*____ 11/08/2024__
4.     19*_____11/20/1992__ 2/6/1993
5.     16*_____11/20/2003__ 1/28/2004
6.     14 ______12/3/1985___ 1/27/1986
         14 ______12/18/1993__ 2/9/1994
8.     12*_____11/22/1991___ 1/18/1992
         12 ______1/25/1968___ 3/07/1968
         12 ______11/25/2017__ 1/20/2018
*streak started the season ^final 22 games of 1986-87 season, first three games of 1987-88 season.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD ...
•    is 159-75 in his eighth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 192-108 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 0-0 against Arkansas-Fort Smith.
 
ARKANSAS-FORT SMITH HEAD COACH ZANE GIBSON ...
•    is 16-35 in his second season as head coach of the Lions and 44-72 overall in his fifth season as a head coach.
•    he played collegiately at Middle Tennessee State from 2009-14 and was part of MTSU's all-time winningest class with 95 wins. He played in 59 career games and was a member of three Sun Belt Conference championship teams and one in Conference USA.
•    after his playing career, Gibson joined the coaching staff as a graduate assistant from 2014-16. His responsibilities included scouting, individual improvement, recruiting, scheduling and academics.
•    has never coached against Washburn.
  •    The Lions are 9-13 this season and 3-10 in the MIAA going 6-5 in home games.
•    Terrell Williams, Jr. leads the team in scoring at 11.9 ppg adding 4.2 rpg and Elijah Wilson is scoring 10.1 ppg. VJ Reeves is averaging 9.8 ppg with a team-high 38 3-pointers this season.
•    UAFS is averaging 76.3 ppg while allowing 71.7 ppg.
  •    Thursday's meeting will be the second in program history between the two schools.
•    Washburn won the lone meeting on Nov. 12, 2011 in an 87-66 win in Bartlesville, Okla.
  (Feb. 8, 2025) TOPEKA, Kan. – The No. 1-ranked Washburn Ichabods used a 16-1 run over a four-plus minute stretch of the second half turning a 12-point lead into a 23-point win over Central Missouri on Saturday afternoon with an 83-60 win in Lee Arena.
During the second half run, Washburn held the Mules to 0-8 shooting while the Ichabods were 6 of 7 from the field with six different players recording a field goal during the spurt. After leading 38-26 at the break over the Mules (11-11, 6-7 MIAA), Washburn came out scoring 10 of the first 12 points of the half building a 20-point lead. After a Mule timeout, UCM recorded a 12-3 run of its own trimming the Washburn margin back to 10 setting up the run by the Ichabods.
Brayden Shorter led the Ichabods with 18 points scoring 11 in the second half and Andrew Orr and Jacob Hanna each had 14 in the win. Dillon Claussen came off the bench scoring 10 points going 3 of 3 from the field and 4 of 4 from the charity stripe  and Jack Bachelor had nine points and nine assists.
Kyran Tilley led the Mules with 16 points.
Washburn was outrebounded for the first time this season (35 to 34) in the game while outshooting the Mules 47 percent to 36 percent from the field. Washburn also forced 16 UCM turnovers leading to 15 points and outscored the Mules 36 to 18 in the paint. Washburn also connected on 20 of 23 free throws compared to 8 of 12 for UCM.
The win also moved the Ichabods to 1,698 all-time program wins needing two more to reach the 1,700-win mark becoming the seventh NCAA Division II school to reach that plateau. •    The Ichabods are 1,698-1,133-2 all-time in the 119th year in the program's history.
•    Washburn is the seventh-winningest program in NCAA Division II history by victories.
•    Washburn is 705-325 since joining the conference and the NCAA.
•    The Ichabods have recorded 31 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 510-104 (.831) 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 face Northeastern State  on Feb. 15 before returning home for their final two regular season games hosting Central Oklahoma on Feb. 20 and Rogers State on Feb. 22 for senior day. Washburn will end the regular season with road games at Pittsburg State on Feb. 26 and Missouri Southern on March 1.