K-State alums will hold open basketball scrimmage in Kansas City area ahead of TBT

You’re invited to watch Jacob Pullen, Bill Walker, Mike McGuirl and other notable Kansas State basketball alums suit up on the same basketball court Tuesday.

Purple & Black, the K-State alumni team that is preparing to compete for $1 million at The Basketball Tournament, has scheduled an open scrimmage at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park. The practice will begin at 7 p.m. and last roughly two hours. Tickets are available for free through the Kansas City Catbackers, but a donation to the team’s GoFundMe page is encouraged.

As of Monday afternoon, Purple & Black had raised more than $1,600 to help cover the cost of food and lodging for their upcoming trip to Wichita, where they will begin TBT action at Koch Arena in the same bracket as Wichita State’s alumni squad.

“We will scrimmage a little bit among each other,” former K-State center Jordan Henriquez said. “We might get some high school and college kids in there to help us get up and down. Some of those players, when they were kids, were watching us play so I’m pretty sure they will be excited to go against us. Bottom line, we are doing it for the fans, for the people who can’t make it out to Wichita. We want to give them an opportunity to connect with us.”

Pullen, the leading scorer in K-State men’s basketball history, will lead the team this summer. He will be reunited with former college teammate Bill Walker, who has since changed his first name to Henry. Together, they helped launch an exciting era of Wildcats basketball that began with NCAA Tournament appearance in 2008 with Michael Beasley also on the roster.

Henriquez will coach the team at The Basketball Tournament. Other former players on the roster include Martavious Irving, Thomas Gipson, Justin Edwards, Kamau Stokes and McGuirl.

They will be joined by players from other colleges, such as Trevor Gaskins (Ole Miss, Louisiana Tech), Khalid Thomas (Arizona State, Portland State), Terrance Joyner (Mississippi Valley State) and Tavrion Dawson (Cal State Northridge).

Purple & Black will open The Basketball Tournament against Lone Star Legends at 6 p.m. Friday.