WICHITA, Kan. – The Kansas State men's basketball alumni team - dubbed the Purple & Black - has been admitted into the 64-team field of the The Basketball Tournament (TBT) and will compete in the Wichita Regional at Koch Arena from Friday-Monday, July 22-25.
The Basketball Tournament (TBT) is a $1 million, winner-take-all summer basketball event broadcast live on ESPN platforms.
The #3 seed Purple & Black will take on #6 seed Lone Star Legends in the team's first-round game on Friday, July 22 at 6 p.m. CT. If Purple & Black advances to the second round, they will face the winner of #2 seed Eberlein Drive and #7 seed Bleed Green (North Texas alumni) on Sunday, July 23 at 5 p.m. CT.
The Wichita Regional Championship Game is set for Monday, July 25 at 8 p.m. CT.
The Purple & Black Team, which is organized by former Wildcats Jordan Henriquez and Martavious Irving, is in sixth year competing in the TBT. Henriquez will serve as the team's head coach for the second straight summer. Both Henriquez and Irving will also be on the active roster as well. The duo are apart of the winningest class in school history (101 victories) as well as the first team to win a conference championship in 36 years in 2013.
Aside from Henriquez and Irving, the squad includes a number of notable Wildcats including the school's all-time leading scorer in Jacob Pullen (2007-11), Henry Walker (2006-08), Thomas Gipson (2011-15), Justin Edwards (2014-16) and Kamau Stokes (2015-19).
The school's first 3-time captain, Pullen scored 2,132 points in his 135-game career and was twice named an All-American. Walker helped spark the turnaround of K-State basketball fortunes during his 2-year playing career from 2006-08. As a redshirt freshman, Walker averaged 16.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in 2007-08. Gipson scored 1,232 points in his 4-year career on 53.3 percent shooting and grabbed nearly 500 rebounds. A transfer from Maine, Edwards was a Wildcat for two seasons, averaging 12.7 points and 5.9 rebounds as a senior in 2015-16. One of the best point guards in school history, Stokes scored 1,242 points in his 4-year career, connecting on 207 made 3-pointers to go with 415 assists.
The team also includes Trevor Gaskins (Ole Miss/Louisiana Tech), Khalid Thomas (Southern Idaho/Arizona State/Portland State), Terrence Joyner (Mississippi Valley State) and Tavrion Dawson (Cal State Northridge).
Pullen return to the Purple & Black for the first time since 2017, while Walker will be make his TBT debut.
Other teams in the Wichita Regional include the Aftershocks (Wichita State Alumni Team), Stillwater Stars (Oklahoma State Alumni Team), Air Raiders (Texas Tech Alumni Team) and We Are D3 (collection of Division III stars).
The winner of the Wichita Regional will face the winner of the Omaha Regional in the quarterfinals in Wichita on July 27. Semifinals will be in Dayton, Ohio at UD Arena on July 30, and the $1M winner-take-all championship game on Aug. 2