Kansas State basketball's Purple Reign alumni hope to fare better in TBT under new name

WICHITA — Kansas State basketball's alumni team is back at The Basketball Tournament, but under a new name.

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

No. 4 seed Purple Reign, led by K-State all-time scoring leader Jacob Pullen, will face fifth-seeded Colorado alumni Team Colorado at 2 p.m. Saturday at Koch Arena on the Wichita State campus. The fame will be televised on FS2 and stream live on the Fox Sports app.

Host Aftershocks, a Wichita State team, is the top seed and will tip off the three-day regional at noon against No. 8 Midtown Prestige, made up of Wichita area small college players. 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.

A first-round victory would pit Purple Reign against the Aftershocks-Midtown winner in Monday's 8 p.m. semifinal, with the Mass Street-Ram Up winner taking on the Florida TNT-LA Cheaters winner at 6 p.m. The regional championship game is scheduled for 8 p.m. Wednesday.

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

Pullen, who helped Martin's 2010 K-State team reach the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight, left in 2011 as the school career scoring leader and is back after missing last year's tournament. He hit a game-winning 3-pointer in 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).

Center Abayomi Iyiola, who started nine games on Tang's Elite Eight team in 2022-23, rounds out the K-State alumni.

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 playing for 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 is assisted by former Wildcats Clent Stewart (2008-08) and Curtis Kelly (2009-11).

TBT WICHITA REGIONAL SCHEDULE

Saturday, July 20

First round

12 noon — No. 1 Aftershocks (Wichita State) vs. No. 8 Midtown Prestige (Wichita area)

2 p.m. — No. 4 Purple Reign (K-State) vs. No. 5 Team Colorado (Colorado)

5 p.m. — No. 3 Florida TNT vs. No. 6 LA Cheaters

7 p.m. — No. 2 Mass Street (Kansas) vs. Ram Up (Colorado State)

Monday, July 22

Semifinals

6 p.m. — Florida TNT-LA Cheaters winner vs. Mass Street-Ram Up winner

8 p.m. — Aftershocks-Midtown Prestige winner vs. Purple Reign-Team Colorado winner

Wednesday, July 24

Championship

8 p.m. — Semifinal winners

Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.