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The No. 3-ranked Washburn Ichabods will finish off the regular-season road portion of their schedule this week, traveling to Oklahoma to face Central Oklahoma on Thursday and Rogers State on Saturday.

 

Washburn is 24-1 overall and 14-1 in the MIAA after rolling to a 78-54 win over Northeastern State last Saturday in Lee Arena while Central Oklahoma is 15-12, 8-7 MIAA after falling last time out to Rogers State, 75-59, at home.

The Ichabods can clinch no less than a share of the MIAA title with a win in Thursday's 7:30 p.m. contest at Central Oklahoma.

Washburn would clinch an outright title with a win at UCO and a loss by Central Missouri at Rogers State on Thursday.

Thursday's game is the only regular-season meeting between the Ichabods and the Bronchos this season.

The Ichabods have the No. 1-ranked scoring offense in the MIAA, putting up 87.4 points per game.

Defensively, the Ichabods have the No. 1-ranked scoring defense, allowing 62.3 points a game.

The Bronchos are averaging 73.2 points and allowing 68.0 points.

Washburn has recorded its 32nd 20-win season in program history and their sixth under coach Brett Ballard in his ninth season on the Ichabod bench.

The Ichabods are second in NCAA Division II in scoring margin at plus 25.1 points per game and are ranked third in field goal percentage at 51.4 percent. Washburn leads the nation in rebound margin at plus 12.4.

WU junior Jeremiah Jones is first in the national in total steals with 78 and ranked second in steals per game at 3.12.

Jones needs eight steals to reach 200 for his career and he is ranked fifth in career steals on the active NCAA D-II chart and No. 34 out of all NCAA levels.

Sophomore Dillon Claussen is 10th in the nation in field goal percentage at 62.9.

Senior Brady Christiansen is 10th on the NCAA active D-II chart with 716 career rebounds and he also has moved into the top 50 all-time at Washburn in scoring with 812 career points.

Senior Sam Ungashick has scored 951 collegiate points, with 592 coming at Washburn after transferring from Benedictine after his freshman season.

The Ichabods held Northeastern State 38 points under its season scoring average of 82.9 points per game in Saturday's win.

Bob Hoffman is 128-78 in his seventh season at Central Oklahoma and 647-399 in his 32nd year overall. Hoffman came to UCO from Mercer, where he led the Bears to 209 wins in his 11-year stint there.

He led the Bears to their first-ever NCAA Tournament win in 2014 – a major upset of Duke in the opening round of March Madness. Hoffman is 5-6 against Washburn.

Matthew Willenborg leads UCO with a 20.4 scoring average and a team-high 9.4 rebounds per game while adding 81 blocks. Willenborg is second in the MIAA in scoring average, first in rebounding and first in blocks. He also leads the team with 48 3-pointers in 137 attempts.

Josh Nwankwo is scoring 18.7 points per game and Jacobi Sebock is averaging 15.7 points.

Thursday's meeting will be the 43rd in the series history and the series is tied 21-21. Washburn has won 12 of the last 17 meetings.

In the 2025 MIAA Tournament, the eighth-seeded Bronchos knocked off the top-ranked Ichabods in the quarterfinals, 90-84.

The Ichabods have lost the last five games played in Edmond to the Bronchos, with Washburn's last win in Hamilton Fieldhouse coming on Jan. 14, 2017 in a 74-69 win.

Washburn will play its final regular-season road game at Rogers State on Saturday before wrapping up the last week of the regular season at home.

The Ichabods will host Pittsburg State next Wednesday and then will end the regular season against Missouri Southern three days later.