•    The No. 4-ranked Washburn Ichabod basketball team is back in action for the final time in the regular season inside Lee Arena hosting Rogers State at 3 p.m.
•    The game will be the final regular season games for seniors Andrew Orr, Michael Keegan, Jake Schadegg and Jacob Hanna who will be honored in a pregame ceremony.
•    The Ichabods snapped a two-game streak last time out with a 93-72 win over Central Oklahoma improving to 23-2 overall and 14-2 in the MIAA last time out.
•    The Hillcats are 20-8 this season and 11-5 overall in conference play after a 63-61 win over Central Missouri last time out and have won their last four games in a row.
•    Saturday's meeting with Rogers State will be the only one between the two schools this season in the regular season.
•    The Ichabods can clinch no worse than a share of the MIAA regular season championship with a win over Rogers State on Saturday. Washburn can clinch an outright championship with a win over Rogers State combined with a Pittsburg State loss at Fort Hays State on Saturday.
•    An MIAA regular season championship would be the 11th in program history and the first since the 2011-12 season when they shared the title with Northwest Missouri and Central Missouri going 15-5 in league play.
•    The last non-shared MIAA regular season Championship came in the 2004 season when the Ichabods went 15-3.
•    The Ichabods have recorded 15 wins in MIAA play six times.
•    The Ichabods are 6-0 all-time against the Hillcats in games played in Topeka.
•    The Ichabods have been in the top five for 12-straight weeks for the first time in program history.
•    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.
  Saturday, Feb. 20 vs Rogers State
•    Senior Day - Four Ichabod seniors - Andrew Orr, Michael Keegan, Jake Schadegg and Jacob Hanna will all be honored before the game.
•    The SAAC Teddy Bear Toss will be happening during halftime of the men's game. Fans can bring a teddy bear to the game or buy one at the door for $5. All stuffed animals will be donated to the local Toys for Tots.
  •    The Ichabods have 1,699 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 1,244 career points sitting in 14th all-time passing Eric Carter with 1,241 career points from 1997-2001 …next on the chart is Kyle Wiggins who had 1,258 points from 2011-15.
•    Michael Keegan has 959 career points in 121 career games as an Ichabod and he fourth on the career blocks chart with 98 … he is also third all-time in steals with 153 needing four more to pass Jordan Canfield who had 156 from 1992-97 … Keegan also went over the 200-assist mark the earlier this season.
•    Jack Bachelor is 14th in the nation and leading the MIAA in assist to turnover radio at 3.07, 12th in total assists at 141 and 14th in assists per game with 5.6.
•    The Ichabods are fifth in the nation in rebound margin at +10.0, eighth in the nation in field goal percentage at 50.7 percent, 18th in scoring defense allowing 66.4 ppg and third in scoring margin at +20.2.
•    Jacob Hanna is 24th in the nation in free throws made with 132 and 14th in attempts with 182 leading the MIAA.
•    Andrew Orr is 13th in the nation in field goal percentage at 63.3 leading the MIAA.
•    Michael Keegan is 11th in the nation and leading the MIAA in steals with 60 and he is ranked 12th in steals per game at 2.40 per game.
•    Brayden Shorter is third in the nation in 3-pointers per game at 3.72 and he's ranked fourth in total 3-pointers made at 93 … his 93 3-pointers is the most in program history on the Ichabod sophomore record chart passing Todd Alexander who hit 83 during the 1990-91 season and his total is second on the Ichabod overall single-season chart trailing Maurice Lamar (113 in 1991-92).
•    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.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD ...
•    is 160-77 in his eighth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 193-110 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.
•    he is 8-3 against Rogers State.
 
ROGERS STATE HEAD COACH JUSTIN BARKLEY ...
•    is 287-153 in his 15th season at Rogers State.
•    served as the Hillcats' assistant coach from 2008-2010, became the third head coach in the brief history of the program when he took over in 2010.
•    helped guide the Hillcats to a 52-13 record as an assistant where they claimed the school's first Sooner Athletic Conference regular season championship, reached the NAIA National Tournament, and achieved a No. 1 national ranking in 2008-09.
•    scored six points in 32 minutes with six rebounds and six assists against the Ichabods as a player at Northeastern State (his alma mater) in the NCAA South Central Regional Semifinal game when his RiverHawks topped the Ichabods 64-59 on March 15, 2003 in Stephenville, Texas - NSU would go on to win the NCAA National Championship that season.
•    is 3-8 against the Ichabods.
  •    The Hillcats are 20-8 this season and 11-5 overall in conference play after a 63-61 win over Central Missouri last time out and have won their last four games in a row.
•    Kofi Hamilton is scoring 15.6 ppg leading four Hillcats in double-figure scoring followed by Anthony Marshall, Jr. at 14.2 ppg and Caden Fry and Andrew Mason with each scoring 11.0 ppg. Fry leads the team with 7.1 rebounds per game.
•    The Hillcats are fifth in the MIAA in scoring at 77.4 ppg and 10th in scoring defense allowing 76.3 ppg.
  •    Saturday's meeting with the Hillcats will be the 12th between the two schools with the Ichabods leading the series 8-3.
•    The Hillcats won the first meeting on Feb. 15, 2020 in Claremore, Okla. 80-62.
•    In games played in Claremore, the Ichabods are 2-3 while going 6-0 in games played in Topeka.
•    The Ichabods are 2-0 against the Hillcats in the MIAA Tournament winning a 78-59 decision on March 3, 2021 in Topeka in the quarterfinals in the tournament played during the COVID pandemic and an 87-64 win in the 2024 MIAA Tournament quarterfinals in Kansas City.
  (Feb. 20, 2025) TOPEKA, Kan. – The No. 4-ranked Washburn Ichabods bounced back from their first two losses of the season in a big way shooting a blistering 64 percent from the field leading to a 93-72 win over Central Oklahoma on Thursday night in Lee Arena.
Washburn (23-2, 14-2 MIAA) trailed for only 26 seconds in the game as UCO (14-11, 8-8 MIAA) jumped out to a 5-2 lead after the Ichabods scored the first two points of the game, but Washburn then scored the next eight and 10 of the next 12 points going up 12-7 at the first media time out. Washburn pushed its lead to nine at 20-11 with 11:55 left but UCO cut the lead down to four but Andrew Orr layup and Jacob Hanna's 3-pointer pushed the lead to 26-15 with 9:25 to go in the opening half.
Before the half, the Bronchos cut the lead to four at 33-29 with 2:43 to go before the break, but Washburn closed the frame on a 9 to 3 run taking a 43-32 lead into the locker room.
Coming out the intermission, UCO scored the first five points trimming the Washburn advantage to five at 42-37, but a timeout by the Ichabods jump started a 14 to 6 run over the next 2:51 capped by back-to-back 3-pointers by Brayden Shorter as the Ichabods pushed their lead to 13 with 14:49 to play at 58-45. Another jumper by Shorter moved the lead to 12 after a 3-pointer by the Bronchos.
Washburn then put the game away with a 16 to 6 run stretched the Ichabod lead to 19 before going up by as many as 21 with 5:52 before scoring the final three points of the game for the 21-point victory to improve to 12-0 at home.
Shorter led the Ichabods with 25 points scoring 16 in the second half on 5 of 6 shooting from the field including 4 of 5 3-pointers. Hanna finished with 22 points hitting 14 of 16 free throws while Orr had 13 points and Brady Christiansen scored 11. Jack Bachelor scored seven points with eight assists and three steals.
UCO was led by Israel Hart scored 23 on 7 of 19 shooting.
After shooting 43 percent in the opening half hitting 123 of 30 shots, the Ichabods heated up to 64 percent on 16 of 25 shooting including 5 of 10 from deep. For the game the Ichabods finished at 53 percent overall on 29 of 55 shooting and went 26 of 32 from the free throw line for an 81 percent clip. Washburn finished 20 of 29 from the field in two-point shots (69 percent) for the game. Washburn held the Bronchos to 40 percent shooting for the game and 7 of 24 from deep.
The Ichabods dominated the glass outrebounding the Bronchos 44 to 25 turning 11 offensive rebounds into 10 second chance points. •    The Ichabods are 1,699-1,135-2 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 706-327 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 511-104 (.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.
  •    Washburn will end the regular season with road games at Pittsburg State on Feb. 26 and Missouri Southern on March 1.