Now ranked No. 1 in the NJCAA, the Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball team returns to the court after a week off to face No. 13 Barton in a key Jayhawk Conference Western Division battle on Wednesday at the Sports Arena.

Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Sports Arena. The game will be broadcast live by Blue Dragon Flagship Station KHUT-FM (102.9) and sister station KWBW-AM (1450) at 7:20 p.m. The Blue Dragon Sports Network will provide video and an audio-only stream beginning at 7:20 p.m.

The Blue Dragon men will be the second No. 1-ranked team to take the floor on Wednesday. At 5:30 p.m., the top-ranked HCC women will meet Barton. According to the NJCAA, this is the first time that the same school held the No. 1 spot in both the men’s and women’s polls at the same time.

Hutchinson plays as a top-ranked team for the second time in three seasons. In 2011, HCC spent two weeks at No. 1. It’s only the fourth time since 1975 that HCC has been ranked No. 1.

Hutchinson (17-0, 3-0 Jayhawk West) gets back to work after a week off.  Last Wednesday, the Blue Dragons got a career-high 30-point effort from freshman Kadeem Allen and a strong defensive effort in the second half to defeat Butler 81-67 in El Dorado.

The Cougars (16-2, 3-1) has played straight through since the opening of conference play. Barton responded well on Saturday after dropping its first conference game at Garden City last week with a 73-64 victory over Butler on Saturday at Great Bend.

Wednesday’s game features the top two scoring offenses in the Jayhawk West in 2013. The Cougars averages 84.9 points per game, while the Blue Dragons averages 83.9 points per contest.

GAME 18 – No. 1 Hutchinson (17-0, 3-0) vs. No. 13 Barton (16-2, 3-1)
Date: Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Tipoff: 7:30 p.m.
Site: Hutchinson Sports Arena, Hutchinson, KS (Capacity: 7,000)
Radio: KHUT-FM (102.9), KWBW-AM (1450) – Glen Grunwald (PBP), Rusty Hilst (Analyst), 7:20 p.m.
Free Internet Video and Audio:  www.bluedragonsports.com, 7:20 p.m.
Twitter: @bluedragonsport
Tickets: $7 reserved; $5 General Admission
Promotion: Chili and Ice Cream Feed, 5-7 p.m. Sports Arena Small Gym

Blue Dragons No. 2 in NJCAA in all-time wins
With their 76-64 victory over Mesa Community College on Nov. 3, the Blue Dragons reached 1,600 wins in their illustrious history.

The Blue Dragons are 1,614-556, a winning percentage of .743 in their 81st season of men’s basketball.

The Blue Dragons trail only Southeastern Iowa in all-time wins. Southeastern Iowa.

HCC played its 2,100th game on Dec. 4, 2010 vs. Harcum College.

With their 76-69 victory over Seward County on Jan. 3, 2010, the Blue Dragons moved past Moberly Area Community College for second place on the NJCAA all-time wins list.

With a 79-53 victory over Labette on Nov. 1, 2008, the Blue Dragons became only the third NJCAA program to post 1,500 victories. Win No. 1,400 came on Feb. 9, 2004 at Butler.

Blue Dragons in national poll
For the second time in three seasons, the Blue Dragons have reached the No. 1 spot in the NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Poll.

HCC moved into the top spot this week after former No. 1 Chipola lost last Wednesday.

Before this week, the last time HCC was ranked No. 1 was in 2010-11. That team held the top spot for two weeks.

Before that, the last time that Hutchinson was ranked No. 1 in a regular season poll was on Jan. 7, 1992. The Blue Dragons – the starting point guard on that team was current HCC women’s coach John Ontjes – started that season 15-0 and spent one week in the nation’s top spot before getting bumped off. That team finished 22-7 and was Region VI runner-up.

The latest No. 1 national ranking is only the fourth since 1975 for the Blue Dragon men. The 1974-75 Blue Dragons, coached by Dick Gisel, started their season 24-0. That Blue Dragon team finished 32-3, won the Jayhawk West and Region VI crowns and finished eighth in the 1975 NJCAA Tournament.

HCC has now been ranked in 10 consecutive NJCAA polls, dating back to last season.

HCC men and women make history being No. 1
Hutchinson becomes the only school in NJCAA Division I basketball history to have both its men’s and women’s teams hold the No. 1 ranking in their respective polls at the same time, according to the NJCAA.

Last week, for the first time in HCC women’s program history, the Lady Dragons (17-0, 3-0 Jayhawk West), moved to No. 1 in the women’s Division I poll. Then on Wednesday, the door was opened for the Blue Dragon men to move into the top slot after former No. 1 Chipola lost at Northwest Florida State and HCC defeated Butler in El Dorado.

Division I has had a couple of close calls to the same school holding both No. 1 spots.

In 2005, Western Nebraska had its men’s team and women’s teams ranked No. 1 within one week of each other. In 1990, the Connors State women were ranked No. 1 and its men’s team was No. 2 for several weeks, but both never reached No. 1 at the same time.

Start ties for third best in Blue Dragon history
Fast starts in the under the Steve Eck watch have been nothing new to the Blue Dragons.

This season’s 17-0 start ties for the third best in team history, matching the 2010-11 Blue Dragons.

In Eck’s four seasons at Hutchinson, the Blue Dragons have gone 12-2, 14-0, 13-1 and 14-0 in non-conference play.

The best start to a season came in 1974-75, a 24-0 start to a season.

Current winning streak ties for sixth longest in history
Hutchinson’s current 17-game winning streak ties for the sixth longest in program history.

The current win streak is tied with the 1960-61, 2004-05 and 2010-11 Blue Dragon teams.

The Blue Dragons have had 33 winning streaks of 10 or more games in program history. The longest win stream in HCC history is 24 games, which was done twice in 1967-68 and 1974-75.

About the 2012-13 Blue Dragons
+ The Blue Dragons average 83.9 points per game offensively. HCC is shooting 49.2 percent overall and has shot 50 percent or better eight times this season. The Dragons are shooting 32.5 percent from 3-point range and is 67.3 percent from the foul line. HCC is second in scoring offense and field-goal percentage. The Dragons lead the Jayhawk West and leads the league in free-throw percentage.

+ Defensively, the Blue Dragons rank eighth in scoring defense at 68.5 points per game. Opponents are shooting 39.6 percent overall and 27.6 percent from 3-point range. The Dragons rank third in the West in field-goal  percentage and second in defensive 3-point percentage.

+ Through three games of Jayhawk West play, HCC is averaging 78.3 points, shooting 50.3 percent overall and just 25 percent from long range. HCC has six 3-point goals in three conference games. Defensively, HCC is allowing 70.0 points, 41.3 percent field-goal shooting and 22.8 percent from 3-point range.

+ Freshman guard Kadeem Allen, a three-time Jayhawk Conference men’s basketball player of the week, is fourth in the Jayhawk West in scoring at 16.7 points per game. He has scored in double figures in 14 of 15 games played this season, averaging 20.8 points per game over his last six games and is coming off a career-high 30 against Butler last Wednesday.

+ Sophomore guard A.J. Spencer ranks fourth in the Jayhawk West in field-goal percentage at 60.0 percent. He is eighth in the league in scoring at 14.5 points per game. Spencer leads the league in free-throw shooting at 84.6 percent. Spencer is averaging 4.7 rebounds.

+ Sophomore forward Alex Davis has three double-doubles this season and averages 13.6 points per game with a team-high 7.5 boards per game, which is tied for sixth in the Jayhawk West. Davis is shooting 50.3 percent and is averaging 2.2 assists, 2.4 blocked shots and 1.2 steals per game. Davis now leads the Jayhawk West in blocked shots.

+ HCC will be without the services of sophomore point guard D’Von Campbell, a UTEP transfer, for an undetermined amount of time because of injury. He has missed two games so far. Campbell averaged 11.4 point and 3.9 assists, which is eighth in the Jayhawk West. He was shooting 40.0 percent from 3-point range with 16 3-pointers.

+ The Blue Dragon bench is averaging 20.5 points. Freshman Tafari Whittingham, who started the last two games for Campbell, is averaging 9.1 points and sophomore Dre Henley is averaging 6.1 points off the bench.

+ Henley is ninth in the Jayhawk West in field-goal percentage at 55.0 percent.

+ The Blue Dragons have out-rebounded only 8 of 17 opponents this season. HCC is a plus-0.9 in rebounding advantage, out-rebounding opponents 40.0-39.1. The Blue Dragons are averaging 13.5 offensive rebounds per game.

+ The Blue Dragons average 18.6 assists per game and 9.6 steals.

+ Hutchinson averages 15.6 turnovers and forcing opponents into 20.1 turnovers per game.

+ HCC is 14-0 at the Sports Arena this season, averaging 83.8 points per game.

+ HCC is 3-0 on the road this season, averaging 84.3 points per game.

Scouting Barton
+ Barton started the season winning 13-straight games before falling to Paris Junior College 78-75 in overtime on Jan. 2.

+ The Cougars defeated Sward County and Dodge City to open Jayhawk West play but were upset in a 66-46 victory at Garden City last Wednesday.

+ As usual under Craig Fletchall, the Cougars are among the best offensive teams in the Jayhawk Conference. Barton has reached 100 points three times this season with a season high of 124 points against KSU-Salina on Nov. 16.

+ Barton leads the Jayhawk West in scoring offense at 84.9 points per game. The Cougars rank third in field-goal percentage at 48.0 percent. Barton is third in 3-point percentage at 33.7 percent and have 97 treys this season, second only to Colby. Barton is sixth in free-throw shooting at 63.5 percent.

+ Defensively, the Cougars are eighth of nine teams in the KJCCC West allowing 68.1 points per game. Barton does rank second in field-goal percentage at 39.8 percent and is seventh in 3-point defense at 33.3 percent.

+ Sophomore Algie Key is the Jayhawk West’s second-leading scorer at 18.9 points per game. Key is shooting 47.3 percent from the field and has a knack of getting to the free-throw line. Key’s been to the foul line a league-high 126 times and is a 70.6 percent foul shooter. Key ranks fifth in assists at 4.1 per game. He is tied for sixth in steals at 2.1 per game. Key averages 6.6 rebounds per game

+ Andell Cumberbatch is sixth in the league in scoring at 14.8 points per game. He’s shooting 55.5 percent, which is eighth and is 39.5 percent from long range. Cumberbatch is averaging 5.5 rebounds. This week, Cumberbatch shared Jayhawk Conference Player of the Week honors with Hutchinson’s Kadeem Allen.

+ Turon Parker averages 13.0 points per game. He has a team-high 29 3-pointers and his 1.71 makes per game is eighth in the league. Parker shoots 36.2 percent from long range. Parker is tied for sixth in steals at 2.1 per game.

+ Raheem Johnson shoots 57.8 percent from the field and averages 8.8 points per game. He also averages 7.9 rebounds. Johnson is seventh in the league in field-goal percentage and third in rebounding.

+ The Cougars are averaging 41.6 rebounds per game, while allowing 36.7 boards.

+ The Cougars are third in the league in assists at 15.0 per game and are second in steals at 10.7 per game.

+ Barton turns it over only 11.4 times per game, while forcing 18.4 turnovers per game.

+ The Cougars are 7-0 at home this season, 3-1 in true road games and 5-1 in neutral-court games.

Series history against Barton
This will be the 99th meeting between Hutchinson and Barton in a series that began in 1970.

The Blue Dragons own a 77-21 record all time against the Cougars, including a 37-5 mark in the Sports Arena. Hutchinson is 29-14 in games played in Great Bend.

Hutchinson and Barton have met 12 times in the postseason, the last coming in 2009. The Blue Dragons own a 9-3 series lead.

(HCC Sports Information)