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No. 3-ranked Washburn University men's basketball, the MIAA regular-season and conference tournament champion, will host the NCAA Central Regional for the second straight season, with the Ichabods facing Minnesota-Duluth in their opening game at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in Lee Arena.

The 31-1 Ichabods are the No. 1 regional seed and coming off a dominating 91-59 win over Rogers State in Sunday's MIAA Tournament final in Kansas City, Mo.

 

 

But senior guard Bryson Smith, who led the Ichabods with 21 points in Sunday's championship game said the Ichabods still have things they want to work on and get better at this week and beyond.

 

"At practice we've worked on a lot of stuff that we need to hone in on and just get a good grasp of,'' Smith said. "We always say that you can get better every day, so I always feel like we can still improve.'' 

 

While Smith is in his first season with the Ichabods, he has national tournament experience, helping Dallas College North Lake claim a national junior college championship.   

 

"I felt like it was good experience to prepare me for something like this because even though it's a different format, at the end of the day you've still got to come out and compete,'' Smith said. "Coach feels like that and we still feel like we haven't hit our ceiling.''

 

Washburn coach Brett Ballard cuts down the nets after the Ichabods' MIAA Tournament championship Sunday in Kansas City, Mo. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN] 

Washburn coach Brett Ballard doesn't feel like he'll have to say much to get the Ichabods fired up for the regional.

 

"I think these guys understand that this is a great opportunity and playing at home is pretty special, so my big thing is not to get them excited but make sure they're focused and appreciate how hard it's going to be to win,'' Ballard said. "Just because we played great last week doesn't mean you just show up and do the same thing this weekend.''

Minnesota-Duluth, winners of the Northern Sun Tournament, is 21-11 this season and enters the NCAA Tournament on an eight-game winning streak.

The Bulldogs were the No. 6 seed in the Northern Sun Tournament, winning the title with a 76-65 win over top-seeded St. Cloud State.

Washburn rolled through the MIAA Tournament, outscoring their opponents 267-180, including an MIAA championship game record for margin of victory record in its 32-point win over Rogers State.

The Ichabods never trailed in any of their MIAA Tournament games.

The Ichabods are making their 18th NCAA appearance and enter the tournament with a 20-17 overall record in the event. Washburn reached the 2025 NCAA Division II Final Four.

Washburn won its first MIAA Tournament championship since 2021 and its first in Kansas City since 2012.

The Ichabods have recorded their third 30-win season program history and their second straight after last season's 30-4 record.

Washburn has won 29 straight games at home, breaking the previous 28-game streak from Nov. 19, 1993 to Feb. 8, 1995.

 

The Ichabods have recorded 32 20-win seasons in program history and six under Ichabod coach Brett Ballard in his nine seasons with four NCAA postseason berths.

Washburn is first in NCAA Division II in scoring margin at plus 25.1 points per game and are ranked fourth in field goal percentage at 50.9 percent.

 

Washburn is third in assists per game (18.9), sixth in assist/turnover ratio (1.58) and second in rebound margin (plus 10.7) and scoring defense (61.9 points per game).

Sophomore All-MIAA first-team pick Dillon Claussen, who has missed the Ichabods' last two games with a leg injury, is eighth in the nation in field goal percentage at 62.5 percent. Claussen is questionable for Saturday.

 

Junior Jeremiah Jones is first the nation in total steals with 102 and is ranked second in steals per game at 3.19 per contest.

 

Jones set an MIAA single-game tournament record in the semis against Missouri Western with eight steals en route to earning all-tournament team honors.

Junior first-team All-MIAA pick and MIAA Tournament MVP Jack Bachelor is 21st in the nation in total assists with 149 and seventh in assist to turnover ratio at 3.10 to 1. Bachelor is 10th in 3-pointers made with 95 and 19th in 3-pointers per game with 2.97.

 

Bachelor was named the tournament MVP after games of 24, 27 and 14 points while also dishing out 22 assists with only two turnovers and hitting 16 3s during the three games.

Senior Brady Christiansen joined Bachelor and Jones on the all-tournament team after averaging 14.3 points 10 rebounds in the tournament and hitting 50 percent of his 3-point shots, going 7 of 14 overall from deep.

Minnesota-Duluth's Caleb Siwek was named the MVP of the NSIC Tournament after scoring 34 points, including 19 in the opening half, while Kole Hanson scored 18 in the championship win over St. Cloud State.

Siwek leads the team in scoring for the season with a 15.3 average while hitting 57 3-pointers. Hanson averages 15.1 points while also hitting 57 3-pointers and Noah Pauson is scoring 12.5 points per game. Nick Katona leads the Bulldogs in rebounding with a 6.8 average.

 

Christiansen registered his second straight double-double with 15 points and 15 rebounds against Rogers State while Bachelor added 14 points, handed out nine assists and hitting four threes.

 

Jones recorded 10 points, seven rebounds, and three steals while sophomore Tyson Ruud had 12 points on 6 of 8 shooting as all five Ichabods starters reached double figures in the title game.

With a win over Minnesota-Duluth, the Ichabods will face the winner of the Saturday's 8 p.m. Missouri Western-St. Cloud State on Sunday in Lee Arena.

 

Former Seaman Class 5A state champion Ty Henry is a top player for Missouri Western, earning third-team All-MIAA honors.