Jordan Henriquez-Roberts brings passion to Purple & Black team in The Basketball Tournament

WICHITA — Even though Jordan Henriquez-Roberts' days as an active player in The Basketball Tournament are behind him, he never lost his passion for the annual $1 million winner-take-all event.

As head coach and general manager for Purple & Black, a Kansas State alumni team and regular participant in the tournament, he still loves seeing former Wildcat players from different eras get together.

"Having the title as the GM for the last three seasons now, yes on paper that's what it looks like," Henriquez-Roberts said in a recent phone interview. "But I essentially was the GM since 2016 when we first got into it, and I was still playing at the time.

"My focus was just getting a bunch of guys back together and playing and try to compete to win money and to win the tournament. And then as I transitioned over into the coaching side of things, I took more responsibility as a GM, lining up people's time and trying to get guys accommodated and certain things so that the tournament runs smoothly."

Purple & Black are seeded second in the TBT's eight-team Wichita 1 regional, which gets underway Thursday at Charles Koch Arena on Wichita State's campus. It is one of two regionals competing at WSU, with Wichita 2 starting Wednesday.

Related: Jacob Pullen will not play for Purple & Black team in The Basketball Tournament

Purple & Black, the No. 2 seed in their regional, face St. Louis-based DaGuys STL at 6 p.m. Thursday in the opening round. The top-seeded Aftershocks, made up of Wichita State alumni, take on B1 Ballers in the nightcap at 8.

Henriquez-Roberts, a 6-foot-11 forward from Harlem, New York, played on the first Purple & Black teams before moving into coaching. During his Kansas State career, he helped the Wildcats advanced to four straight NCAA Tournaments from 2010-13.

In 126 games at K-State, Henriquez-Roberts scored 589 points and grabbed 562 rebounds. He still holds the school career record for blocked shots with 210.

Henriquez-Roberts went on to play professionally for five more years, finishing up with the Westchester Knicks of the NBA G-League in 2017-18, followed by a two-month stint in Mexico. After retiring, he returned to K-State as a graduate assistant while earning his master's degree in academic advising, and then he spent the past two years as a coaching associate with the Los Angeles Lakers and player development associate with the Houston Rockets.

Related: Jacob Pullen's 3-pointer sends Purple & Black past Lone Star Legends in TBT opener

While currently between NBA gigs, Henriquez-Roberts has remained active with Purple & Black, most recently as head coach in addition to his GM duties. Mainly he serves as a facilitator for getting players together and making sure everything runs on schedule.

"They take time away from their families to be a part of this, so I try and prioritize people's time and money so that they can have the best experience possible," he said. "It's fun and it's a lot of work, but at the same time when you have helping hands, it makes the process a lot easier."

Martavious Irving, a former Wildcat guard who still suits up for Purple & Black, helps Henriquez-Roberts handle the GM duties, and last week they added NBA veteran Rodney McGruder as an administrator.

Last year, Purple & Black lasted just two games in TBT. They won their opener on a long 3-pointer by Jacob Pullen, but ran out of gas the next night and lost to a North Texas alumni team.

"It's always a priority to have as many guys locked in as possible, it's just sometimes unfortunate when guys commit to a time and then a job comes up where they're offered some guaranteed money," Henriquez-Roberts said. "I can't argue with our guys when they get those opportunities."

Related: Kansas State's Purple & Black alumni team wears down in 87-62 TBT loss to Bleed Green

That happened last year, when Michael Beasley was lined up, only to have a scheduling conflict with the Big3 league. This week, Pullen was a late scratch.

But P&B added three key players this year in point guard Kamau Stokes from the Wildcats' 2019 Big 12 championship team, guard Marcus Foster, who played two years at K-State before going on to even greater success at Creighton, and 6-foot-9 power forward DJ Johnson.

Top returning players include forwards Henry Walker (formerly known as Bill), and Thomas Gipson.

"Right now we have a good lineup coming in and a mixture of guys from different classes playing for K-State," Henriquez-Roberts said. "And one thing I really want for our fans to do is grasp onto different eras of Kansas State basketball that have come through and played and worn that jersey."

Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Jordan Henriquez-Roberts helps Purple & Black team run smoothly in TBT