By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After opening the 2025-2026 season with four straight win on the road, No. 2-ranked Washburn University men's basketball will open its home slate at 7 p.m. Wednesday, facing Rockhurst in the newly renovated Lee Arena.
Junior Jack Bachelor (14) is averaging 19.3 points and 5.0 assists for 4-0 Washburn. [File photo/TSN]
Sophomore Dillon Claussen is averaging 18.0 points and 8.8 rebounds with a pair of double-doubles for Washburn. [File photo/TSN]Washburn picked up a pair of wins last weekend in the Central Region Challenge in Pittsburg, topping Minnesota-State Moorhead 95-63 and Winona State, 88-57.
Rockhurst is 2-0 this season after two wins in the GLVC/GLIAC Challenge, downing Davenport 82-72 and Purdue-Northwest, 85-78.
The Ichabods are 39-1 all-time in their home-openers. The lone loss was on Nov. 16, 1990 to Friends, 89-88. Since then the Ichabods have won 34 consecutive home-openers. The 2025-26 season marks the 121st season of Ichabod basketball.
Former Ichabod Levi Braun, a Hayden graduate, is in his second season as a graduate assistant for Rockhurst. At Washburn Braun played from 2019-2024 and is the school's all-time leader in 3-point percentage at .450, hitting 148 of 329 attempts and sits 14th on the all-time 3-pointer chart.
The Ichabods are second in scoring margin in the NCAA D-II ranks at plus-30.8 points, trailing Black Hills State (plus-32.0).
Washburn junior Jack Bachelor is eighth in the nation in assists (20/5.0) and sophomore Dillon Claussen is fourth in the nation in double-doubles with two in four games. Claussen is seventh in the nation in field goal percentage at 81.3 and 10th in total rebounds with 35.
Bachelor leads the Ichabods with a 19.3 scoring average while hitting 14 3-pointers and going 13 of 14 at the free throw line.
Claussen is averaging 18 points and 8.8 rebounds.
WU's Jeremiah Jones leads the nation in total steals with 17 and is ranked seventh in steals per game at 4.25 per contest.
Rockhurst senior guard Jaylen Wesley was named the Great Lakes Valley Conference Player of the Week in men's basketball, averaging 20.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.0 steals and assists per game while shooting 56 percent from the field.
Drenin Dinkins and Jaden Fournoy are averaging 17.0 points for the Hawks.
Wednesday's game will be the 66th in the all-time series between Washburn and Rockhurst.
Washburn leads the all-time series 34-31.
The Ichabods are 21-9 in meetings in Topeka and have gone 11-21 in games played in Kansas City, Mo. against the Hawks. The teams have split the last 10 match ups.
Washburn took a 77-55 win over Rockhurst last season in Kansas City.
The Ichabods led the NCAA D-II ranks in cumulative attendance last season with 35,633 and also led the nation in average attendance at 2,229 per game.
Washburn has a 16-game home court winning streak, which is tied for the fifth-longest fin the D-II ranks.
The Ichabods are 515-104 (.831) all-time in Lee Arena.
Washburn will return to the road on Saturday as the Ichabods will William Jewell in Liberty, Mo. at 3 p.m.Washburn then returns home facing Friends on Nov. 25 and will host Ottawa at 2 p.m. on Nov. 29 before opening MIAA play on Dec. 4 against Nebraska-Kearney and Fort Hays State on Dec. 6.
