OVERLAND PARK — Debuting its rebrand, the Kansas State men’s basketball alumni team — now called “the Purple Reign” — was victorious over Kansas’ Mass Street in the first Wheat State Summer Showdown.
The team, coached by former Wildcat star Jordan Henriquez-Roberts, put together a 76-72 decision against rival Kansas’ alumni squad. The event was hosted at Johnson County Community College.
“It was a scrimmage for us, it was good to come out here and show what we could do,” former Wildcat star Jacob Pullen said. “We can’t look too far ahead…We play a completely different team on Saturday, a completely different atmosphere, all of that.”
The Purple Reign, formerly known as Purple and Black, will open The Basketball Tournament (TBT) play officially against Colorado’s alumni on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Wichita. The game will be televised on Fox Sports 2.
Pullen, who will be inducted into the K-State Hall of Fame this year, came out firing with a trademarked deep 3-ball to kick off the contest.
Mass Street fired right back and led early in the first half, but before long the Purple Reign kicked it into high gear. A 16-0 run fueled the former Wildcats ahead of Mass Street at the halfway mark in the opening period.
Henriquez-Roberts’ team didn’t look back from there on out. 2018-19 Big 12 Champion guard Kamau Stokes connected a lob dunk to former Texas Tech Red Raider Tariq Owens down the stretch as the Reign stampeded into a 56-46 lead at halftime.
The Purple Reign continued to thrive in the second half — a period shortened to eight minutes. With a 68-52 lead at the four-minute mark, the target score of 76 was set for the victor.
TBT uses the Elam ending, which stops the game clock with four minutes to play in the fourth quarter. At that point, a target score is established, which is the highest point-total between the two teams plus eight points. Once either team reaches or exceeds that target score, the game ends.
With clock complications, Mass Street was awarded 16 points and the score was set at 68-68 ahead of the race to 76 points. The Purple Reign still survived and took the scrimmage win.
“For us, it’s just about tuning up before we go down (to Wichita),” Pullen said. “We appreciate those guys coming out and supporting us. Beating KU is always good, but this time it was under different circumstances, so it doesn’t hold as much weight.”
