Men's Basketball | 1/3/2025 3:39:00 PM
GAME 13
Emporia State (4-8, 1-2 MIAA) vs #2 Washburn (12-0, 3-0 MIAA)
Saturday, Dec. 4 • 1:40 p.m. • Emporia, Kan. • Slaymaker Court/White Auditorium
Series Record: WU leads 113-109 •
Last Meeting: ESU 80, at WU 76 (3/2/2024)
Radio: Hornet Sports Network KFFX-FM (104.9)/1490AM Topeka/103.7FM Kansas City
Internet Audio:
kvoe.com |
Television: 38 The Spot |
Internet Video:
The MIAA Network
Live Stats |
Ticket Info |
Complete Notes in pdf
Up Next: at Fort Hays State • Thursday, Jan. 9 • 7:30 p.m. • Hays, Kan. • Gross Coliseum
TELEVISED TURNPIKE TUSSLE
The Hornets play host to the second ranked Ichabods in the first MIAA Basketball TV Game of the Week.
LAST TIME OUT
The Hornets scored 16 points in the final 1:52 but could not complete the comeback in a 72-69 loss to Central Missouri. After six ties and six lead changes in the first half, the Mules scored on seven straight possessions to open the second. Emporia State trailed 63-49 with 3:28 left.
Arhman Lewis scored 12 points during a 16-4 run to get ESU within 70-69 with 5.3 seconds left. Lewis scored a career high 24 points to lead Emporia State while
Brayson Laube scored 13 and
Karyiek Dixon added 12 points.
ABOUT THE COACHES
Tom Billeter is 494-283 in his 27th season as a head coach and is 4-8 in his first season at Emporia State after going 393-224 in 21 years at Augustana. With the Vikings he won the 2016 National Championship, went to nine NCAA Tournaments, won three regular season NSIC Championships, two NSIC Tourney Championships, and 18 consecutive winning seasons. He went 2-2 against Washburn while at Augie.
Brett Ballard is 135-68 in his eighth year at Washburn, 168-98 in his tenth year overall. He is 7-6 against Emporia State.
UP NEXT
The Hornets head west to take on Fort Hays State on Thursday, January 9. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. in Gross Memorial Coliseum.
ABOUT THE HORNETS
Emporia State is 4-8, 1-2 in the MIAA. They have wins over a Top 20 NAIA team and a team receiving votes in the latest NABC D2 Poll. Six players are averaging over 6.0 points per game led by Malik Edwards at 13.3 and
Brayson Laube at 12.1 points per game.
Arhman Lewis is averaging 11.3 points and is second in the MIAA in assists. Don Coats is second in the MIAA in rebounds but has missed the last two games with an injury. As a team the Hornets are fourth in the MIAA in offensive rebounding and fifth in turnover margin and assist to turnover ratio.
ABOUT THE ICHABODS
Washburn is 12-0, 3-0 in the MIAA and ranked #2 in the NABC National Poll. They lead the MIAA in scoring, field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense. Michael Keegan leads the MIAA in steals, Brayden Shorter is second in scoring and Jack Bachelor is second in assists.
SERIES HISTORY
According to Emporia State records this will be the 223rd meeting between the two schools with Washburn leading 113-109. The Hornets have won the last four meetings.
LAST TIME VS WASHBURN
Owen Long scored 18 points in the last 5:44 to lead Emporia State to an 8-76 win at Washburn. The Ichabods jumped out to a 21-9 lead eight minutes in and had a 46-32 lead at halftime. WU took their biggest lead with 16:24 left when the Hornets started their comeback. Long started a 20-6 run with back to back threes and finished it with a pull up jumper with 8:20 left to get ESU within 60-55. Long scored six straight giving the Hornets a 73-72 lead with 1:04 left and making it a two possession game with 33 seconds left. ESU made four of six free throws in the final 16.3 seconds to secure the win. Long finished with 36 points while
Alijah Comithier added 19 points.
TURNPIKE TUSSLE FACTS
Since the end of World War II, only four of 12 Emporia State and Washburn coaches have won their first meeting in the rivalry. Brett Ballard won his first meeting for Washburn 83-69 on January 6, 2018 in Topeka. Previous to that, the last coach to win his first Turnpike Tussle was Washburn's Glenn Cafer 64-55 on Feb. 20, 1968 in Topeka. In fact they are the only rookie coaches to win his first Turnpike Tussle considering the Kansas Turnpike has only been open since Oct. 25, 1956. The Ichabods Marion McDonald won 80-53 on February 7, 1952 and was the only Rookie coach to pick up a road win in his first contest while Gus Fish picked up a 59-40 win for the Hornets on January 21, 1947 in White Auditorium.
1500 AND COUNTING
The Hornets have won 1,514 games in their 120th year of playing basketball. They are ranked 16th in total wins among active NCAA Division II schools.
CENTURY MARK
Emporia State's 100-73 win over Newman last year marked the 104th time the Hornets have cracked the century mark in their history.
The Hornets scored at least 100 points 60 times under coach Ron Slaymaker (827 total games in 28 seasons), 26 times under David Moe (288 games in 10 seasons), eight times under Craig Doty (173 games in six seasons), five times under Shaun Vandiver (199 games in seven seasons), three times under Gus Fish (602 games in 25 seasons) and once under Marc Comstock (82 games in three seasons).
REGIONALLY SPEAKING
The NCAA Central Region is made up of teams in the MIAA, Northern Sun and Great American Conferences. Overall in non-conference action the NSIC is 62-40, the MIAA is 78-52 and the GAC is 39-31. This year the MIAA is 16-24 against the region with a 10-12 record against the NSIC and a 6-12 mark against the GAC.
Seven of the last ten national champions have come from the Central Region, including coach Billeter's 2016 win at Augustana, and the region has been represented in eight of the last ten national championship games.
FRIENDLY CONFINES
The Hornets have won 21 of their last 27 (.778) games in White Auditorium. They are 437-204 (.682) since 1979 in White Auditorium. Emporia State has won 222 of their last 321 games (.692) in White Auditorium dating back to the 2002-03 season. In the last 35 years, they have twice had home court winning streaks of at least 20 games. The first was 23 games from 1985-87 followed by a school record 25 game streak from February 12, 2003-January 1, 2005.
LAST THREE+ YEARS
For the first time in school history Emporia State has recorded three straight years with at least a .500 record in MIAA play. Starting in 2020-21 the Hornets have gone 54-37 in MIAA play with a 76-48 overall record.
HORNETS RANK IN NATION IN ATTENDANCE
In 17 home games last year the Hornets averaged 1,224 fans per game to rank 16th in the nation among the over 300 NCAA Division II basketball playing schools. It continued a string of 20 straight years, not counting COVID, ranking in the top 25 in attendance for Emporia State. The Hornets drew 19,627 total fans for an average of 1,402 fans to their 14 home games at Slaymaker Court in White Auditorium during the 2021-22 season to rank seventh nationally.
HORNETS IN THE POST SEASON
The 2022-23 season marked Emporia State's third trip to the NCAA Tournament in 33 years as a member of the NCAA Division II. The Hornets first NCAA Tournament game was an 85-81 loss to Drury in Stephenville, Texas on March 13, 2004. Their next appearance was a 72-66 loss to Southeastern Oklahoma on March 10, 2007. Prior to joining the NCAA, Emporia State made ten trips to Kansas City for the NAIA National Tournament and compiled a record of 13-12 with a pair of national semifinal appearances. The finished fourth in 1947 and again in 1964.
IN THE RANKINGS
There is one MIAA team in the Top 25 and one more receiving votes in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) National Poll. Emporia State received votes in seven NABC National Polls last season and were in the Top 25 the first five weeks of the season. During the 2022-23 season Emporia State had a string of five straight weeks being ranked, their longest streak since a ten week span during the 2006-07 season. The Hornets spent 22 weeks in the NABC Top 25 from 2003-08, getting as high as seventh in the nation on three different occasions.
CLOSERS
The Hornets have won 42 of their last 45 games when leading at the 5:00 minute mark of the second half. They are 4-1 under Coach Billeter.
GIVE ME 20
The 2023 season was the fourth time Emporia State won 20 games as a member of the NCAA and the 12th time in school history. The Hornets had not won 20 games in back to back years since reaching the 20 win mark in three straight seasons from 1987-90. ESU won at least 20 games in five out of six seasons from 1985-90. Emporia State has won at least ten games in conference play 12 times over the last 34 seasons.
LISTEN & WATCH LIVE
Audio of all Emporia State games are available on the Hornet Sports Network across Northeast Kansas and into Missouri. Flagship station KFFX 104.9FM is joined by SportsRadio 1490AM in Topeka and 103.7FM in Kansas City as the Voice of the Hornets Blake Cripps calls the action. Audio is also available on kvoe.com and the Audacy app. KFFX is in their 37th straight year as the radio home of Hornet Athletics, the longest active streak between a commercial station and an MIAA school.
Video webcasts for all of Emporia State's regular season games are available on a pay per view basis from the MIAA Digital Network. The MIAA Network content is available live and is immediately archived for on-demand viewing after each event. Fans can find the action on www.themiaanetwork.com and on The MIAA Network apps for Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, and Roku.
The MIAA has entered into an agreement with Scripps Media and their independent television station KMCI, serving the Kansas City metropolitan area on 38 The Spot, to continue its MIAA TV Game of the Week broadcasts throughout the 2025 NCAA Division II basketball season. Beginning with Turnpike Tussle January 4 in White Auditorium, 38 The Spot will broadcast NCAA Division II men's and women's basketball games from nine different MIAA campuses in January and February. The broadcast schedule will wrap up with the live broadcast of the MIAA men's and women's championship games from the 2025 basketball tournament at Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City on March 9.
