Washburn men’s basketball coach Brett Ballard excited for exhibition against alma mater

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – In just a couple of months, Ballard and the Ichabods will face off against the Jayhawks.

The last time these teams played each other was the 2018-2019 season. They will begin both of their seasons with an exhibition in Allen Fieldhouse.

These type of games happen at least every four years and Ballard was a former walk-on turned scholarship player for Roy Williams and coached under Self’s staff for seven seasons. Ballard said this was a no-brainer.

These games for smaller school are guaranteed money as well which helps with budgeting for Washburn.

Ballard said this will be a lifetime experience for his players and it takes him back to when he was a kid going to games. Not only that, he knows what it’s like playing that building too and his message is simple for his team.

“I’ve never been afraid to compete. My biggest thing with the guys is, we understand how good Kansas is going to be, but let’s go over there and play Washburn basketball. Let’s go over there and compete at a high level. Let’s go over there and play as hard as we possibly can. Let’s go there to play with some discipline and some poise which is not easy to do and that environment. Those are all things that no matter who we line up to play against, we want to try to do and that’ll be no different that night with respect that it’s going to be a challenge,” he said.

Ballard is bringing back about 85 percent of his production from last season with some high expectations for this season. He told 13 Sports this will be a great stepping stone.

”We have a lot of Kansas guys or local guys, even if they’re not from Kansas, understand the tradition and respect of Kansas basketball,” Ballard said. They know it’s a big deal to get to play in Allen Fieldhouse. That’s part of it to go up against that level of competition early in the season to give us a test and find out where we’re at, that part of is cool and just the overall experience of Allen Fieldhouse and the new capacity of 15,300 is awesome for our guys.”

Something also to note, fans will get to see the newly renovated Allen Fieldhouse too when they play Washburn and that’s special to Ballard.

“I’m excited that we’re the first real game that the fans will get to see (new Allen Fieldhouse) and will be a part of that so that part was cool. Just in general though, it’s always an amazing experience to play in Allen Fieldhouse. I think Kansas basketball has the best fans in the country. The passion that they have, even though it’s just an exhibition game is second to none and I feel very blessed and fortunate as a coach and certainly for my team to get that opportunity to be a part of the experience like that,” Ballard said.

The game is slated for Oct. 29.

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