By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
No. 5 nationally-ranked Washburn University men's basketball will be back in Lee Arena for a second straight contest on Saturday, facing William Jewell in a 2 p.m. non-conference tilt.
The Ichabods improved to 5-0 with an 89-71 victory over Pittsburg State in a non-conference game on Tuesday night.
Senior Jacob Hanna is tied for Washburn's team lead in scoring with a 15.8 average in his first season with the Ichabods. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior Andrew Orr is averaging 15.8 points for the 5-0 Washburn Ichabods, tied for the team lead in scoring. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
All five Washburn starters cracked double figures againt Pittsburg State as the Ichabods posted their fifth straight win by at least 17 points.
"It's a confident group in the right ways,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said. "They don't seem to get rattled. It's a long season and we're going to be in some tough situations, but so far this group has a sense of urgency.
"We don't have any cool guys. I told them down in the locker room (after the Pittsburg State win), we don't have anybody that's cool. Sometimes you have guys that are a little cool and when things go their way they're pretty good and when things don't go their way they're not as good, but everybody just seems to be bought in and it's early, but I'm really pleased with that part of it.''
Senior Jacob Hanna led the Ichabods with a game-high 20 points while adding seven rebounds.
Senior Andrew Orr scored 17 points on 7 of 9 shooting while sophomore Brayden Shorter finished with 15 points and senior Michael Keegan and sophomore Jack Bachelor both scored 13. Bachelor had four steals in the game and Brady Christiansen had seven rebounds.
Orr needs 35 points to become the 28th member of the Ichabod 1,000 point club while Michael Keegan has 820 career points as an Ichabod and has moved into sixth all-time at Washburn in career blocked shots with 83.
Hanna and Orr are tied for the team scoring lead at 15.8 points a game while Shorter is averaging 15.6 points with a team-high 15 3-pointers, Bachelor is averaging 11.6 points with a team-high 24 assists and Keegan is averaging 11.4 points with a team-best 14 steals.
Christiansen leads the Ichabods with an 8.0 rebounding average.
Washburn was ranked No. 5 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Top 25 poll and tied for eighth in the latest D2CIDA poll released on Tuesday.
William Jewell is 3-1 this season after topping Emporia State 89-74 in Liberty, Mo. on Tuesday night.
Washburn has won the last two meetings with William Jewell played in Topeka, going 8-3 overall against the Cardinals in Lee Arena.
William Jewell won last season's meeting 85-70 in Liberty and the Cardinals are 4-1 against the Ichabods in the Ballard era.
The Cardinals are led by Jordan Jermain's 19.5 scoring average while Jermain also averages 6.4 rebounds per game. Also averaging in double-digit scoring are Eli Wingert (13.0), Jason Thirdkill Jr. (12.3) and Bradley Lightbourne (10.87). Lightbourne redshirted the 2023-24 season at Washburn.
The Ichabods will host Peru State on Nov. 30 before opening MIAA play at Nebraska-Kearney on Dec. 5 and at Fort Hays State on Dec. 7.
