• The No. 4-ranked Washburn Ichabod basketball team is on the road for the final two games of the season starting on Wednesday at Pittsburg State. The Ichabods will wrap up the regular season on Saturday at Missouri Southern.
• The Ichabods clinched their 11th MIAA regular season championship after their 90-60 win over Rogers State on Senior Day last time out in Topeka.
• Washburn enters the contest with the Gorillas with a 24-2 record with a 15-2 record in MIAA play.
• The Gorillas enter the game with a 16-10 mark going 12-5 in MIAA play sitting in second place in the MIAA standings.
• The Ichabods and the Gorillas played a non-conference game earlier this season in Topeka winning 89-71 on Nov. 19 in Topeka.
• The MIAA regular season championship is 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 seven times.
• The Ichabods have been in the top five for 13-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.
  • The Ichabods recorded their 1,700th all-time program against Rogers State last time out. The Ichabods are 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 1,258 career points sitting in a tie 14th all-time Kyle Wiggins who had 1,258 points from 2011-15 … next on the career chart is Greg Wilson who scored 1,323 points from 1985-89.
• Michael Keegan has 972 career points in 122 career games as an Ichabod and he is tied for third on the career blocks chart with 100 … he is also third all-time in steals with 154 needing three 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 137 and 14th in attempts with 189 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 61 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 95 … his 95 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 161-77 in his eighth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 194-110 overall in his 10th year as a head coach.
• has led the Ichabods to four NCAA postseason appearances in seven 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 8-1 against Pittsburg State.
 
PITTSBURG STATE HEAD COACH JEFF BOSCHEE ...
•  is in his third season as the head coach at Pittsburg State where he has gone 45-51 … he served as head coach at MIAA rival Missouri Southern State University prior to moving to Pittsburg … he compiled has a 196-127 record overall.
•  Boschee directed MSSU to four 20-win seasons and three consecutive trips to the NCAA Division II National Tournament between the 2017-18 and the 2019-20 campaigns. He was selected the 2017-18 MIAA Coach of the Year and his 2018-19 squad reached the NCAA Sweet 16 while posting a 25-8 record.
•  is 9-6 against Washburn overall and 0-3 at Pittsburg State.
  • The Gorillas are 16-10 this season and 12-5 in the MIAA.
• The Gorillas have won six of their last seven after Fort Hays State snapped their six-game winning streak last time out in Hays in a 62-58 loss to the Tigers.
• Jordan Frison leads the team in scoring at 17.6 ppg and Avery Taggart is scoring 14.7 ppg hitting 81 of 188 3-pointers. R.J. Forney, Jr. is also averaging double figures with 11.3 ppg. Two additional players, Darrell Washington and Tanner Mans are averaging 9.4 ppg and 9.2 ppg respectively.
• The Gorillas are averaging 77.7 points per game while allowing 74.4 points per contest.
  • Wednedsay's meeting will be the 190th between these two schools in a series that dates back to the first meeting on Feb. 19, 1920.
• Washburn leads the all-time series 111-78.
• The Ichabods have won the last 24 of the last 28 meetings including 17 of the last 20 and the last nine overall.
• The Ichabods are 35-3 in Lee Arena against PSU and 39-16 against the Gorillas in MIAA play. The home team is 37-14 in the last 51 regular season meetings, dating back to 1996-97.
• The series goes back to 1919-20 and it has been played at least once a year since 1941-42.
• In Topeka, Washburn leads 73-24 all-time.
• The longest winning streak by the Ichabods is 13 from Jan. 15, 1983 to March 4, 1988.
• The longest winning streak by the Gorillas is six games from Dec. 12, 1936 to Feb. 13, 1943.
  (Feb. 22, 2025) TOPEKA, Kan. – The No. 4-ranked Washburn Ichabod basketball team claimed its 11th Regular Season MIAA Championship with a 90-60 win over Rogers State on Saturday afternoon while also becoming the seventh team in NCAA Division II history to reach the 1,700-win plateau on senior day in Lee Arena.
The Ichabods needed only 28 seconds to take a lead they would not give up as a jumper by Jacob Hanna in the paint and a 3-pointer by Jake Schadegg put Washburn up 5-0 out of the gates. After a bucket by the Hillcats (20-9, 11-6 MIAA), a layup by Andrew Orr followed by 3-pointers by Jack Bachelor and Brayden Shorter pushed the Ichabods to an 11-point lead forcing a Rogers State timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, the Hillcats then used a 10-0 run of their own cutting Washburn's lead to one, but Washburn responded with a 9-0 run going back up by 10 before the Ichabods went into the break with a 14-point margin leading 44-30.
In the second half, Rogers State trimmed the Ichabod advantage down to five at 55-50 with 13:19 to go, but another big Ichabod run put the game out of reach as the Ichabods scored 20 of the next 24 points taking a 75-54 lead with 6:03 to play.
The final Ichabod run of 13 to 2 over the final 4:19 of the game pushed the final margin to 30 for the largest victory over Rogers State as the Ichabods won their fifth in a row over the Hillcats overall improving to 7-0 in Lee Arena in the series.
Hanna led the Ichabods with 15 points followed by Andrew Orr with 14 and Michael Keegan had 14. Keegan also added six rebounds and two blocks. Dillon Claussen had 10 off the bench going 8 of 8 from the 3-point line.
Anthony Marshall, Jr. paced the Hillcats with 15 points.
The Ichabods shot 56 percent from the field hitting 28 of 50 shots and were 26 of 30 from the free throw line. Rogers State was limited to 39 percent shooting hitting 22 of 57 shots and 7 of 22 from deep.
The Ichabods also forced 16 Hillcat turnovers leading to 20 points and outscored Rogers State 40 to 18 in the paint. Washburn's bench also outscored the Hillcats' reserves 34 to 7. • The Ichabods are 1,700-1,135-2 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 707-327 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 22 conference championships including 11 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 512-104 (.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 at Missouri Southern on March 1. MIAA Tournament seeds will be announced at the conclusion of the MIAA regular season. Check wusports.com and the Washburn social media channels for game times for games in Kansas City.