Kansas State Basketball Purple Reign Alumni Ready to Kick Off in TBT

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WICHITA — The Kansas State basketball alumni team is back in the basketball tournament, but under a new name.

The hope is that Purple Reign will do better than predecessor Purple & Black in the $1 million winner-take-all tournament, now in its 11th year. Purple & Black has been eliminated in the second round of the eight-team Wichita Regional each of the past two years.

No. 4-seeded Purple Reign, led by K-State all-time leading scorer Jacob Pullen, takes on fifth-seeded Colorado alumni Team Colorado at 2 p.m. Saturday at Koch Arena on the campus of Wichita State. The reunion will be televised on FS2 and streamed live on the Fox Sports app.

Host Aftershocks, a Wichita State team, is the heavy favorite and will open the three-day regional at noon against No. 8 Midtown Prestige, comprised of small college players from the Wichita area. The evening session pits No. 3 Florida TNT against No. 6 LA Cheaters at 5 p.m., with No. 2 Mass Street, comprised of former Kansas Jayhawks, closing out the round against Ram Up (Colorado State) at 7 p.m.

Related: Jordan Henriquez-Roberts brings passion to Purple & Black team in basketball tournament

A first-round win would set Purple Reign up for the semifinals on Monday at 8 p.m. ET against the winner of Aftershocks-Midtown. The winner of Mass Street-Ram Up will face the winner of Florida TNT-LA Cheaters at 6 p.m. ET. The regional championship game is scheduled for Wednesday at 8 p.m.

Purple Reign consists of eight former K-State players from the coaching eras of Frank Martin, Bruce Weber and Jerome Tang, plus five new players from other schools.

Pullen, who helped Martin’s 2010 K-State team reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, left as the school’s career standout in 2011 and is back after missing last year’s tournament. He hit a game-winning 3-pointer in the Purple & Black’s 2022 first-round game.

Former Weber players include guards Kamau Stokes (2015-19) and Cartier Diarra (2017-20) from the 2018 Elite Eight team, plus forward DJ Johnson (2012-17), guard Justin Edwards (2014-16), center Stephen Hurt (2014-16) and guard DaJuan Gordon (2019-21).

Related: Purple & Black’s depth pays off in the first round of the basketball tournament

Center Abayomi Iyiola, who started nine games for Tang’s Elite Eight team in 2022-23, rounds out the K-State alumnus.

The team also includes guard Delano Spencer (Tennessee State), guard Devin Baulkman (Gulf Coast State and Tennessee), forward Khalid Thomas (Portland State) and centers Tariq Owens (Tennessee, St. John’s and Texas Tech) and Yor Anei (DePaul).

Xavier Sneed, a member of K-State’s 2018 Elite Eight team, is on the roster but currently plays for the Sacramento Kings in the NBA Summer League.

Jordan Henriquez-Roberts (2009-13), who played for both Martin and Weber, returns as Purple Reign’s coach and general manager. He will be joined by former Wildcats Clent Stewart (2008-08) and Curtis Kelly (2009-11).

TBT WICHITA REGIONAL SCHEDULE

Saturday July 20

First round

12 o ‘clock in the afternoon – No. 1 Aftershocks (Wichita State) vs. No. 8 Midtown Prestige (Wichita area)

14.00 hours – No. 4 Purple Reign (K-State) vs. No. 5 Team Colorado (Colorado)

5:00 PM — No. 3 Florida TNT vs. No. 6 LA Cheaters

19:00 – No. 2 Mass Street (Kansas) vs. Ram Up (Colorado State)

Monday July 22

Semi-finals

6:00 PM — Winner Florida TNT-LA Cheaters vs. Winner Mass Street-Ram Up

8:00 PM — Aftershocks-Midtown Prestige winner vs. Purple Reign-Team Colorado winner

Wednesday July 24

Championship

8:00 PM — Semi-final winners

Arne Green lives in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett Network. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter via @arnegreen.

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