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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Top-ranked Washburn University men's basketball, one of just five remaining undefeated teams in NCAA Division II, will begin a four-game MIAA road trip on Wednesday at Missouri Western (7:30 p.m. start).

Washburn junior Jeremiah Jones scored 20 points with four 3-pointers, 4 assists and 4 steals in last Saturday's 91-66 win over Emporia State. [File photo/TSN]

The Ichabods will continue their road trip at Northwest Missouri on Saturday. Washburn will then face Emporia State for the second time in 12 days and then travel to Wichita to take on Newman before returning to Lee Arena on Jan. 21, facing Northwest Missouri.

And while Washburn coach Brett Ballard knows the upcoming road stretch will be tough, he thinks the Ichabods are ready to embrace the challenge.

"I think the silver lining is we've played really well on the road so far this year for whatever reason,'' Ballard said. "I don't have all the answers for that other than we've got good players, but we've played really well on the road, so I think our guys can take some confidence from that, hopefully.''

Ichabod sophomore Marcus Glock, who has been a key contributor off the bench after transferring from Northwest Missouri, said he feels like WU will approach the upcoming stretch as business as usual.

"I think a big thing for us is we just go out there and play,'' said Glock, who had 10 points in Saturday's win over ESU. "We don't talk about our No. 1 ranking that much. It's a long season and we know things happen, so we just go out there and play as hard as we can every time out.''

Washburn moved to 14-0 overall and 4-0 in the MIAA after opening 2026 with a 91-66 win over Emporia State on Saturday in Lee Arena.

Junior Jeremiah Jones paced Washburn with a career-high 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc against Emporia State. He added four assists and four steals.

Sophomore Dillon Claussen scored 16 points with 4 steals and 3 blocks in Saturday's 91-66 win over Emporia State. [File photo/TSN]

Junior Jack Bachelor scored 16 points with four 3-pointers and nine assists in last Saturday's 91-66 win over Emporia State. [File photo/TSN]

Sophomore Dillon Claussen finished with 16 points, four steals and three blocks and junior Jack Bachelor also scored 16 points, hitting four 3-pointers, while dishing out nine assists with just one turnover. Senior Brady Christiansen led the Ichabods with eight rebounds.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

A four-game road trip gets underway for Washburn University women's basketball on Wednesday with a 5:30 p.m. MIAA contest against Missouri Western in St. Joseph, Mo.

Senior Payton Sterk scored 21 points and hit 5 of 7 3-pointers in last Saturday's 86-59 MIAA win over Emporia State. [File photo/TSN]

Senior Yibari Nwidadah recorded a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds in last Saturday's win over Emporia State. [File photo/TSN]

Washburn, 10-3 overall and 3-1 in the conference, will take a four-game winning streak into the Missouri Western game after rolling to an 86-59 win over Emporia State on Saturday in Lee Arena.

"I think we're definitely up for the challenge,'' said sophomore point guard Brooke Gomez, who leads the Ichabods with 3.3 assists per game, ranking sixth in the MIAA in assists per game and seventh in assist to turnover ratio. "I think us playing at home and getting good wins at home has really put us in a good spot to start these away trips very good.

"Our starting five is mostly veterans, so I think we're all prepared and ready to go play hard.''

Buoyed by its current winning streak, Lora Westling feels like the Ichabods are getting to the point where they are confident they can win every time out.

"I think we've been a long time for this feeling and I don't know if we're there yet, where everybody's like, 'Oh yeah, it's automatic,' but we're certainly close and I feel like our leadership is getting there with consistency,'' Westling said. "And our new players are kind of figuring out where they're going to thrive and get a lot of credit and praise and really add value for us.

"It's kind of a calming competitiveness around our program right now, which is exactly what you want as a coach.''

Senior Payton Sterk scored a game-high 21 points with five 3-pointers against the Hornets while senior Yibari Nwidadah had a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds.

Senior Gabi Giovannetti added nine points on three 3-pointers shooting with seven rebounds, a steal and block while senior Aniah Wayne also had nine points off the bench.

Missouri Western enters the matchup 4-9 on the year and 0-4 in the MIAA after falling 87-56 on the road to No. 6 Fort Hays State last time out.

Sterk is leading the Ichabods with a 13.2 scoring average while drilling a team-high 27 3-pointers. Sterk ranks third in the MIAA in 3-point percentage and is sixth in the conference in 3-pointers made.

Nwidadah is averaging 12.6 points and a team-high 6.8 rebounds while also shooting a team-high 57.4 percent from the floor. Nwidadah leads the MIAA and ranks 18th nationally in field goal percentage.

Giovannetti scored 12.1 points and is second on the team with 25 3-pointers while also recording a team-high 1.8 steals per game.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

No. 1-ranked Washburn University men's basketball remained perfect on the season Wednesday night with an 87–75 road win at Missouri Western, improving to 15-0 overall and 5-0 in the MIAA.

Senior Sam Ungashick came off the bench to score 18 points in Wednesday's 87-75 MIAA road win over Missouri Western. [File photo/TSN]

The Ichabods never trailed, building a commanding 48-29 first-half lead, and then withstood a second-half push by the Griffons to secure the victory.

Washburn shot a scorching 65.5 percent from the floor in the opening half (19 of 29) and knocked down 4 of 9 attempts from 3-point range while scoring 48 first-half points.

Missouri Western, meanwhile, struggled to find rhythm early, shooting just 25.0 percent (8 of 32) in the first half.

Missouri Western (11-5 overall, 3-2 MIAA) played its best basketball after halftime, shooting 53.3 percent in the second half and outscoring Washburn 46-39 over the final 20 minutes while dropping to 6-1 in home games this season.

The Griffons trimmed the Ichabod advantage into the mid-teens on multiple occasions.

However, each time the Griffons threatened, Washburn answered, keeping Western at arm's length.

Sophomore Dillon Claussen scored 16 of his 18 points in the first half, going 6 of 10 from the field for the game while adding eight rebounds, four assists and three blocks.

Senior Sam Ungashick provided a big lift off the bench with a season-high 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting and junior Jack Bachelor added 16 points while senior Brady Christiansen contributed 13 points and nine rebounds, helping Washburn win the rebounding battle, 42–24.

As a team, Washburn finished the night shooting 56.4 percent from the field (31 of 55), 33.3 percent from 3-point range (7 of 21) and 72.0 percent at the free-throw line (18 of 25). Missouri Western shot 38.7 percent overall and just 21.4 percent from beyond the arc.

Washburn returns to the road on Saturday, continuing its four-game road trip at Northwest Missouri (3:30 p.m. start).

Wednesday's win was the fifth in a row by the Ichabods over the Griffons while improving to 8-2 in the last 10 meetings.

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Washburn Rural girls win at the Glaciers Edge Tournament.

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Welcome to Top Sports News

No. 1-ranked Ichabods start four-game road trip at Western

Washburn women put four-game win streak on the line against Griffons

No. 1-ranked Ichabods improve to 15-0 with 87-75 road win at Missouri Western