photo by: The Basketball Tournament

JHX Hoops guard Frank Mason III moves past the AfterShocks' Chaunce Jenkins on Monday, July 27, 2026, in Wichita.

Lost in the shuffle after a postgame fight overshadowed JHX Hoops’ 64-59 victory in Wichita on Tuesday: The Kansas alumni, having knocked out the defending champions, are now just two wins from a $2 million prize.

With Zeke Mayo having posted 25 points in consecutive games, Frank Mason III recording three straight Elam Ending game-winners — the first player to do so in TBT since 2019 — and Washburn alumnus Jacob Hanna playing tenacious defense, the KU alumni’s three-man backcourt has become the engine of their best-ever run through The Basketball Tournament. That’s even without having Marcus Garrett — who was originally one of the summer’s biggest-name additions — and in fact the win over the AfterShocks came without a chunk of JHX’s roster due to a slew of midgame ejections.

The KU alumni will now face a steep test on Wednesday when they leave their home state for the first time and travel to Historic Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky, to face Kentucky alumni team La Familia. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. Central time, and the game will be televised on FS1.

The winner will advance to — and get the chance to host — the TBT championship against whoever wins Thursday’s non-alumni final.

For now, La Familia will play host to JHX because it topped TBT’s home-court advantage rankings. The Kentucky alumni are back in TBT’s Final Four for the second time after previously reaching that stage of the competition in 2024, their first season.

Their headliner in terms of name recognition might be Willie Cauley-Stein, the 7-footer and seven-year NBA veteran who is originally from Olathe. But their contributions have come from a variety of sources. In their first two games, they didn’t have 6-foot-5 guard Archie Goodwin, the former one-and-done and first-round pick of the Phoenix Suns. But he scored 22 points to lead all players in their rubber match against Louisville alumni team The Ville last week and then poured on 30 more, all of which his team needed, including five 3-pointers, in Sunday’s 70-66 victory over Syracuse alumni team Boeheim’s Army.

One of their most significant players has been fellow guard Darryl Morsell, who is averaging 14 points and 7.3 rebounds per game — a non-alumni addition as he spent time at Maryland and Marquette. La Familia also has Andrew Harrison, one half of the highly touted pair of twins from the 2013 recruiting class, as a prominent contributor, although his best game (19 points, four assists) came in a 20-point loss to The Ville at Freedom Hall.

The roster also includes guards Deandre Liggins (Kentucky), James Mainor-Bell (Villanova) and Sean McNeil (West Virginia/Ohio State), small forward Kahlil Whitney (Kentucky, scorer of the Elam Ending game-winner against Boeheim’s Army), power forward Chris Coffey (NAIA Georgetown College) and center Marcus Lee (Kentucky/Cal). The team is managed by Twany Beckham and coached by Jon Hood.

“Kentucky’s a good team,” JHX coach Sherron Collins told Kansas Nation on Monday night. “They’re going to guard, they’re long, they got some shooters. They got kind of everything that you need. So we’ll get to the film, we’ll watch them and we’ll go prepare and be ready for them. But it’s going to be a tough game and an even tougher atmosphere.”

photo by: The Basketball Tournament

JHX Hoops guard Zeke Mayo celebrates during a game against the AfterShocks on Monday, July 27, 2026, in Wichita.

photo by: The Basketball Tournament

JHX Hoops team members celebrate after a game against the AfterShocks on Monday, July 27, 2026, in Wichita.

photo by: Ethan Rand/The Basketball Tournament

La Familia’s Archie Goodwin dribbles against Boeheim’s Army’s Tyson Walker on Sunday, July 26, 2026, in Lexington, Ky.
Photo by Ethan Rand

photo by: Ethan Rand/The Basketball Tournament

La Familia’s Kahlil Whitney celebrates a win over Boeheim’s Army on Sunday, July 26, 2026, in Lexington, Ky.

photo by: Ethan Rand/The Basketball Tournament

La Familia’s Willie Cauley-Stein, left, high-fives teammate Sean McNeil at a game against Boeheim’s Army on Sunday, July 26, 2026, in Lexington, Ky.