Jacob Pullen And Other Former Wildcats Are Gearing Up For The $1 Million The Basketball Tournament

It has already been a great year for former Kansas State men’s basketball player Jacob Pullen.

He was recently elected into the school’s Hall of Fame. Now, Pullen and other former Wildcats, calling themselves the Purple Reign, are gearing up for the $1 million, winner-take-all The Basketball Tournament (TBT).

The Purple Reign begins its journey in the 64-team field July 20-24 in the eight-team Wichita Regional at Koch Arena.

The No. 4 seed Purple Reign (formerly the Purple & Black) will take on the No. 5 Team Colorado (Colorado alumni), on Saturday, July 20 at 1 p.m., CT on FS2. If Purple Reign advances to the second round, they will face the winner of No. 1 seed Aftershocks (Wichita State alumni) and No. 8 seed Midtown Prestige on Monday, July 22 at 8 p.m., CT on FS1.

Other teams in the Wichita Regional include the No. 2 seed Mass Street (Kansas alumni), No. 3 seed Florida TNT, No. 6 seed LA Cheaters and No. 7 seed Ram Up (Colorado State alumni).

Purple Reign, which is organized by former Wildcat Jordan Henriquez-Roberts, is in their seventh year competing in the TBT. Henriquez-Roberts, who has been the head coach for the past 3 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. Former Wildcats Curtis Kelly and Clent Stewart are also serving as assistant coaches.

Pullen (2007-11), K-State’s all-time leading scorer, headlines the Purple Reign, which also includes former Wildcats Cartier Diarra (2017-20), Justin Edwards (2014-16), DaJuan Gordon (2019-21), Stephen Hurt (2014-16), Abayomi Iyiola (2022-23), Xavier Sneed (2016-20) and Kamau Stokes (2015-19).

The team also includes Yor Anei (Oklahoma State/SMU/DePaul) and Delano Spencer (Tennessee State).

The winner of the Wichita Regional will face the winner of the Houston Regional in the quarterfinals for the right to advance to the national semifinals in Philadelphia. The semifinals will be played on Friday, August 2 on FS1, before the $1M winner-take-all championship game on Sunday, August 4 on FOX.

For more information on Purple Reign and tickets for this year’s TBT, visit The Tournament.com.

How to follow the ‘Cats: For complete information on K-State men’s basketball, visit  
visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team’s social media channels on X, Instagram and Facebook.

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David Boyce is a contributing writer to K-State On SI. He can be reached at davidboyce95@gmail.com.

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