Kansas State basketball alumni Purple Reign to try their luck in TBT Kansas City regional
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Purple Reign, a Kansas State basketball alumni team, is hoping that a change in location will help reverse its recent fortunes in The Basketball Tournament.
After competing in the Wichita regional for the past few years, Purple Reign will serve as co-host with Kansas alumni JHX Hoops for the new Kansas City Regional of the annual $1 million winner-take-all tournament, which gets underway Saturday at Municipal Auditorium.
Third-seeded Purple Reign opens the regional with a 1 p.m. game against No. 6 The Shine from Houston, followed by No. 2 JHX Hoops against New York-based No. 7 seed OffDaHook at 3 p.m. and wrapping up with No. 4 Sheffield Sharks and No. 5 DaGuys STL. Top seed Heartfire, the 2023 TBT champion is the top seed and will receive a first-round bye.
The first-round winners advance to Monday's semifinals, which could feature a Sunflower Showdown battle between Purple Reign and JHX Hoops in the 8 p.m. game, while Heartfire takes on the Sheffield-DaGuys winner at 6 for a place in Wednesday's 6 p.m. final.
Purple Reign will once again be led by K-State all-time point guards Jacob Pullen (2007-11) and Kamau Stokes (2015-19), both of whom helped lead the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight. Pullen is the Wildcats' all-time scoring leader.
Other former Wildcats on the roster are guards Justin Edwards (2014-16), Cartier Diarra (2017-20), DaJuan Gordon (2019-21) and Spencer Bain (2024-25), and forwards Dominique Sutton (2007-10), Abayomi Iyiola (2022-23) and Austin Trice (2008-19). Joining them are forward Cam Martin (Kansas), forward Emmanuel Egbuta (Tennessee State), guard Jack Pagenkopf (Utah Tech), forward Jordan Parks (North Carolina Central), and guard Shaun Williams (Quachita Baptist).
Former Wildcat Clent Stewart will coach the team, while Jordan Henriquez-Roberts and Martavious Irving serve as general managers.
Purple Reign did not make it past the first round last year, falling to Team Colorado in Wichita. The year before, Purple Reign lost in the regional semifinal.
TBT Kansas City Regional schedule
At Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Mo.
Saturday, July 19
First round
Game 1: No. 3 Purple Reign vs. No. 6 The Shine, 1 p.m.
Game 2: No. 2 JHX Hoops vs. No. 7 The Shine, 3 p.m.
Game 3: No. 4 Sheffield Sharks vs. No. 5 DaGuys STL, 5 p.m.
Monday, July 21
Semifinals
Game 4: No. 1 Heartfire vs. Game 3 winner, 6 p.m.
Game 5: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 8 p.m.
Wednesday, July 23
Championship
Game 6: Semifinal winners, 6 p.m.
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 X (formerly Twitter) at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State basketball's Purple Reign ready for Kansas City TBT debut
