photo by: AP Photo/Mike Groll

Iona guard Kelvin Amayo (2) drives against Manhattan guard Donovan Kates during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the MAAC conference tournament championship on Monday, March 9, 2015, in Albany, N.Y.

Kansas City, Mo. — The Kansas alumni team has put the finishing touches on its roster for The Basketball Tournament by adding a couple of well-traveled athletes who never attended KU.

Kelvin Amayo, a 6-foot-5 guard who played in college at Marshall, Iona and Loyola Marymount, and Marcus Bell, a 6-foot-10 center who spent time at three junior colleges, Idaho and Stanislaus State, joined the JHX Hoops roster early in the week ahead of Thursday night’s scrimmage against Purple Reign and Saturday afternoon’s TBT opener against OffDaHook.

JHX Hoops general manager — and player — Tyshawn Taylor provided some clarity on the two additions in a brief interview with the Journal-World on Tuesday at the Swinney Center.

Bell played for the LA Cheaters, a team affiliated with the Los Angeles-based pro-am league The Drew League, in the 2024 edition of TBT. He was the defensive player of the year in The Basketball League for the Los Angeles Ignite that same year and has participated in various other pro-am competitions. Bell fills a need in the post on the JHX roster, from which David McCormack was recently removed.

“Marcus is a big 6-10 guy,” Taylor said. “I think he’s going to be great for us as far as size is concerned, and just like an extra body to throw out there when guys get in foul trouble or potentially play a few games.”

Taylor, a Hoboken, New Jersey, native, has a Garden State connection with Amayo, a Nigerian-Canadian who played high school basketball for two schools in Newark.

“Kelvin is a Jersey guy who I’ve known for a long time who’s just a dog,” Taylor said. “He’s just coming back from playing in the NBA Africa League, so he’s a competitor. But he’s just that guy who can go get you a bucket when you need one, and I think in that Elam Ending” — the TBT’s patented conclusion to each game in which teams play to a target score — “he’ll be clutch for us.”

Amayo recently averaged 12.6 points and 5.0 assists in seven appearances for the Rivers Hoopers, a Nigerian team based out of Port Harcourt that competes in the Basketball Africa League. He has also played in Georgia, Iran and Libya, among other countries.

Amayo and Bell join Jacob Hanna, recently of Washburn, among the non-KU members of the JHX Hoops roster. The former Jayhawks are Cliff Alexander, Zeke Mayo (once he concludes NBA Summer League play), Billy Preston, Nick Timberlake, Taylor, Jamari Traylor, Lagerald Vick and Kevin Young. Sherron Collins is the head coach. No further additions are currently expected, Taylor said on Tuesday.

“I feel good about the roster,” Taylor said. “I would lie (if I said) I felt great about it, because I just know there’s so many Kansas (alumni) that could be on the roster that aren’t. I would love to come out here and say, ‘Yeah, I feel great,’ and I don’t. But I feel good. I think based off of the circumstances, we were able to put out a really good, competitive roster that can compete with any team in this tournament, so I’m excited to see how it all comes together.”

The KU alumni will scrimmage their Kansas State counterparts at the Swinney Center on Thursday at 7 p.m. and then open the tournament against OffDaHook on Saturday at 3 p.m.

“This is the team that we’re going with, we’re going to compete hard and we’re going to make the best of it,” Taylor said.