The Purple Reign’s run in the TBT ended Friday night at Bramlage Coliseum.
They were defeated by 62-55 by JHX Hoops, eliminating them from the tournament. After winning the first game, Purple Reign lost the remaining two in the best-of-3 series.
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The Purple Reign team featured mostly former Kansas State Wildcats players while JHX Hoops was full of ex-Kansas Jayhawks. Former KU player Zeke Mayo led the way by scoring 18 of his 25 points in the second half.
Michael Beasley had a team-high 17 points for the Purple Reign. JHX Hoops now advances to the single-elimination quarterfinals. The winning team in the tournament receives $2 million.
WHAT’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR CASEY ALEXANDER IN FIRST YEAR?
Kansas State basketball coach Casey Alexander has emphasized many things in his tenure as head coach.
One of those is defense. Defense was one of Kansas State’s weakest points last season, as one of the country’s best perimeter shooting units was offset by defensive breakdowns.
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“There’s going to be some changes to what we’ve typically done,” Alexander said. “I think we’ll mix defenses up a little bit more than we have historically. I’d say historically we’ve been 95 percent man, and then we’ll sprinkle in a possession or two of something else. In a perfect world, I’d like for that to be more of like an 80-20, 90-10 scenario or something like that. But even then, we’ve put a lot of that in.”
KOSTIC FOCUSED ON KEEPING THINGS SIMPLE
Last year Kansas State Wildcats basketball player Andrej Kostic had plenty of expectations when he arrived on campus in Manhattan.
There were a few reasons why there was so much hype. He had already earned a strong reputation because of his play at the international level in Serbia. With the success of fellow Serbians in the NBA, many thought he was next in line.
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Kostic averaged just a modest 5.2 points last season but was the only freshman to see action under former Wildcats coach Jerome Tang. With Casey Alexander taking over as a coach, the plan is to take some of the spotlight off Kostic so he can just focus on playing basketball.
MORE K-STATE NEWS
Casey Alexander ready to start a new culture at K-State
Kansas State gives offer to three-star basketball player
Wildcats basketball player trying to handle intense spotlight
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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of KStateRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com
