By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's men's basketball team will open MIAA play on Monday night in Tahlequah, Okla., facing Northeastern State at 7:30 p.m. in the NSU Events Center.
The 3-3 Ichabods will be making a quick turnaround after a 96-63 win over Ottawa in their non-conference finale on Saturday at Lee Arena, while the 3-1 RiverHawks are coming off a 99-65 win over Haskell. NSU's first two games of the season were canceled because of winter weather in Bismark, N.D.
Junior Connor Deffebaugh leads 3-3 Washburn men's basketball with a 12.8 scoring average and 4.3 assists per game. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn sophomore Andrew Orr scored 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds in Saturday's non-conference win over Ottawa. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"We have a long (trip) out of the gate they're a good team,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said. "They're well-coached and have a lot of guys back.
"They've got a good group. They're very poised and have very good guard play so it will be a bigtime challenge. There's no easy ones in the league but certainly when you go on the road and play a good team it will be a good one for us.''
The Ichabods are 21-11 all-time in MIAA openers since joining the league and have won 10 of their last 12.
Washburn will be looking to snap a two-game slide to the RiverHawks, falling in both matchups last season. Prior to last year, the Ichabods had won eight in a row over the RiverHawks.
Connor Deffebaugh leads the Ichabods with a 12.8 scoring average while sophomores Andrew Orr and Levi Braun average 11.8 and 10.3 points per game.
Deffebaugh also leads the team in assists with 4.3 per game.
Braun has hit 17 of 34 3-pointers this season, including a season-best 6 of 8 showing against Ottawa last time out in a 21-point performance.
Brady Christiansen's 7.8 rebounds per game leads the Ichabods.
Washburn junior Tyler Nelson, coming off a foot injury, made his season debut against Ottawa, playing 15 minutes while dishing out three assists and hitting his first shot of the season.
"He'd been practicing full go for only about a week but we're just trying to get him acclimated and get him some minutes and get his conditioning back up and get his body back used to playing full speed in a real game,'' Ballard said. "Hopefully, we can keep progressing.''
Rashad Perkins leads Northeastern State with an 18.3 scoring average while Dillon Bailey is averaging 15.8 points and Christian Cook 15.0.
Northeastern State, the 2003 national champion, returns four of its five starters and 75 percent of its scoring from last season's 16-14 team.
Washburn will be back at home on Saturday to host rival Emporia State in a 3 p.m. contest.
