MANHATTAN, Kan. – Purple Reign – Kansas State’s men’s basketball alumni team – will once again compete in the $1 million, winner-take-all The Basketball Tournament (TBT) but this year as the co-hosts of the Kansas City Regional at Municipal Auditorium from July 19-23.
Purple Reign will co-host the regional with JHX Hoops, which is a collection of Kansas alumni. The Kansas City Regional is one of eight across the country, including Indianapolis, James Madison, Lexington, Louisville, Syracuse, West Virginia and Wichita.
The No. 3 seed Purple Reign (formerly the Purple & Black) will take on No. 6 seed The Shine (Shine Pro-Am in Houston) on Saturday, July 19 at 1 p.m., CT. If Purple Reign advances to the second round, they will face the winner of No. 2 seed JHX Hoops or No. 7 seed OffDaHook (a New York-based team) on Monday, July 21 at 8 p.m., CT.
The Kansas City Regional Championship game is Wednesday, July 23 at 6 p.m., CT.
Other teams in the Kansas City Regional include the top-seed Heartfire, No. 4 seed Sheffield Sharks and No. 5 seed DaGuys STL. Heartfire will not have a first-round game.
The 64-team field is a single-elimination, winner-take-all tournament to take home the $1 million prize.
Purple Reign, which is organized by former Wildcats Jordan Henriquez-Roberts, D.J. Johnson and Martavious Irving, is in eighth year competing in the TBT. Henriquez-Roberts, who has been the head coach for the past 4 summers, is a part 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.
All-time leading scorer and K-State Sports Hall of Fame inductee Jacob Pullen (2007-11) headlines the Purple Reign, which also includes former Wildcats Spencer Bain (2024-25), Cartier Diarra (2017-20), Justin Edwards (2013-16), DaJuan Gordon (2019-21), Abayomi Iyiola (2022-23) and Dominique Sutton (2007-10).
The team also includes John Florevus (Georgia), Cam Martin (Kansas/Boise State/Jacksonville State) and Jordan Park (N.C. Central).
The winner of the Kansas City Regional will face the winner of the Wichita Regional in the quarterfinals on Sunday, July 27 at 8 p.m., CT on FS1. The semifinals and $1 million winner-take-all championship game will be on July 31 and August 3.