KANSAS

Kansas Basketball TBT Squad Set to Face Kansas State Team in Exhibition

The Kansas hoops alumni team will scrimmage the KSU alumni squad this Thursday as preparation for this year's The Basketball Tournament.
Dillon Davis|
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Kansas JayhawksKansas State Wildcats

The Kansas basketball alumni squad playing in this year’s “The Basketball Tournament” (TBT) will get their first test of real-game action this week when they face off against a group of Kansas State alumni.

The KU team, known as JHX Hoops, will take on KSU squad Purple Reign in a scrimmage inside UMKC’s Swinney Center this Thursday at 7 p.m. CT.

The KU squad is made up of several former Jayhawks, including Zeke Mayo, LaGerald Vick, Nic Timberlake, and others. There are several members of the 2012 national runner-up team on the JHX team as well with Tyshawn Taylor, Jamari Traylor, and Kevin Young all on the roster.

Also joining this year’s JHX team is former Washburn point guard Jacob Hanna, who averaged 15.7 points and 5.9 rebounds per game this past season for the Ichabods. He will be joined by former Iona guard Kelvin Amayo and former Cal State Stanislaus center Marcus Bell as the three players who don’t have KU basketball experience.

For the Purple Reign, former Wildcats Jacob Pullen, Cartier Diarra, Dajuan Gordon, and Dominique Sutton will try to take home the championship this year alongside several other former college basketball players on the KSU alumni roster.

TBT is now in its 12th year as 64 teams from across the country compete for a $1 million prize.

Kansas City is one of the eight regional sites this year with both the JHX and Purple Reign teams serving as hosts. Games in Kansas City will be played inside Municipal Auditorium starting this weekend.

The No. 3 seed Purple Reign will take on No. 6 The Shine this Saturday at 1 p.m. CT. Following that game, the No. 2 seed JHX team will face No. 7 seed OffDaHook at 3 p.m. CT.

Tickets for the KU-KSU scrimmage are available online or at the door. Tickets for the first three rounds of TBT are available on the TBT website.

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Dillon Davis
DILLON DAVIS

Being a Kansas Jayhawks fan was never a choice for me. I grew up in Topeka, Kansas, surrounded by a family full of Jayhawks. I was even born during a Kansas basketball NCAA Tournament game, so I guess you could say it was fate for me to be a Jayhawk too. When it came time for me to go to college, there was only one place I applied and only one place I wanted to go – KU. I've since turned that passion into sports writing. I've written about KU sports for more than seven years and produced hundreds of KU news articles in that time. I love storytelling, I love KU and I love interacting with my fellow Jayhawks. Rock Chalk!

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