By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Brady Christiansen is the unquestioned elder statesman for Washburn University men's basketball, taking the court in 120 games while helping the Ichabods celebrate a pair of MIAA regular-season championships as a well as a trip to the NCAA Division II Final Four last season.
Washburn senior Brady Christiansen cuts down the nets in Lee Arena Wednesday night, celebrating Washburn's second straight MIAA regular-season title. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But to Christiansen, a 6-foot-7 senior forward who is one of four Washburn seniors who will be honored Saturday when the No. 3-ranked Ichabods, 27-1 overall, 17-1 MIAA, will face Missouri Southern (16-11, 10-8) in a 1 p.m. game on Senior Day, it sometimes seems like he just arrived on campus.
"I'm not going to lie, it feels like I was just a freshman not too long ago,'' Christiansen said. "It went by that fast and I blinked and it's Senior Day. It's really hard to believe its here.''
Christiansen has been a solid contributor since he arrived on campus and is proud of what he and the Ichabods have been able to accomplish over the past four seasons.
"I'm grateful for my time here, what I put in, but also getting the program put in the right hands,'' he said. "My ultimate goal is just to leave the program better than when I got here and I couldn't be more grateful for my teammates, everybody else and we're not done yet.''
Christiansen has helped Washburn win back-to-back MIAA regular-season championships in addition to last season's regional championship and Final Four appearance and said he knows he'll appreciate the Ichabods' accomplishments more and more as time goes on.
"In the moment it really feels good, but five, 10 years down the road when you're looking at the ring, that's when you're really going to be like, 'Wow, that team was special, what we did was special,' and hopefully we just keep this going and we've got three things left to do (MIAA Tournament, regionals and nationals).''
Christiansen will be honored Saturday along with fellow seniors Sam Ungashick, Bryson Smith and Isaiah Saams-Hoy.
Ungashick is in his third season with the Ichabods after playing his freshman year at Benedictine while Smith and Saams-Hoy are in their first seasons at Washburn.
Washburn is coming off a dominant 88-49 MIAA win over Pittsburg State on Wednesday night in Lee Arena, improving to 27-1 and 17-1 in the conference with their 28th straight home victory.
The Ichabods put up 44 points in each half while holding the Gorillas to 34 percent shooting, winning their 11th game in a row over Pitt State.
Sophomore Dillon Claussen led Washburn with a game-high 23 points on 9 of 15 shooting while adding five rebounds and two blocked shots.
Junior Jack Bachelor scored 13 points with eight assists, seven rebounds and three steals against the Gorillas while sophomore Marcus Glock finished with 15 points off the bench, hitting five 3-pointers.
Junior Jeremiah Jones set Washburn's single-season steals record in Wednesday's 88-49 win over Pittsburg State in Lee Arena. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Junior Jeremiah Jones scored eight points with three steals, breaking the Washburn single-season steals record of 82 set by Will McNeill during the 2012-13 season.
The Ichabods will wrap up the regular season on Saturday against the Lions, with the men's game followed by a 3 o'clock women's game between the Ichabods and Missouri Southern.
Missiouri Southern's men are coming off a 95-69 MIAA loss at Central Missouri on Wednesday night.
