OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – On Wednesday night, the No. 5-ranked Johnson County men's basketball team will begin its quest for a third straight Kansas Jayhawk D-II Conference title, and fourth in five years, when they travel to Highland to take on the 13-5 Scotties.
The other two conference opening games feature Kansas City Kansas (7-11) at Labette (12-6), and Fort Scott (13-6) at Hesston (12-5).
The Cavaliers, off to a 17-3 start to the season, enter the contest against the Scotties on the heels of a disappointing 71-58 road loss to No. 1 North Central Missouri on Monday afternoon. Johnson County held the Pirates to 36 points below their scoring average, but had troubles converting on the offensive end.
"We held them way below their average, we were just inept offensively," said JCCC coach Mike Jeffers who just elected to the NJCAA Men's Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. "Now we move on, critique on what we need to do to improve and improve, and be ready to play the next game. If we learn from the loss, then it was a good loss. If we don't, then it was a bad one."
Despite their offensive woes at North Central Missouri, Johnson County enters the game with Highland ranked first in the conference and seventh nationally in field goal accuracy at 51.1 percent. Sophomore center Lukas Milner is a big reason why, making 73.3 percent of his shots so far, best in conference and NJCAA D-II. He is averaging 12.7 points and 7.5 rebounds.
Leading the Cavaliers in scoring is sophomore JaQuaylon Mays at 16.8 per game. He also leads the conference in assists at 4.8 per game. Mays also just was named as the KJCCC D-II Player of the Week for a fourth time this season.
Wednesday's game will mark the 80th meeting between Johnson County and Highland, with the Cavaliers owning the all-time series 52-to-27. Johnson County won two of the three meetings last year, including an 85-76 win in the Region VI Championship. The Cavaliers went on to finish runner-up at the NJCAA D-II National Tournament in Danville, Ill.