The Kansas State men’s basketball program earlier this week announced it will once again wear its popular lavender throwback uniforms this season — but, this time, it comes with a new twist.
Rather than don lavender jerseys with dark purple shorts as they have for the past two seasons, the Wildcats will now wear lavender shorts when they take on Saint Louis at the Sprint Center in Kansas City on Saturday (7 p.m. ET on ESPN+).
Kansas State first broke out the two-tone lavender uniforms during the 2017-18 season as a nod to the “Purple Pop Guns” duo of Mike Evans and Chickie Williams, who teamed up for the Wildcats from 1974-76. It was also the team’s standard road look in 1981, when Rolando Blackman hit a game-winning shot against No. 1 seed Oregon State in the NCAA Tournament.
“I hope it adds a little excitement to it,” head coach Bruce Weber said when the throwback uniforms were initially unveiled. “The throwbacks bring back great memories of special times in K-State basketball history. It was kind of theirs. No one else had them. They had something no one else in the country had and you recognized them.”
Kansas State was only allowed to wear the original throwback uniforms on a limited basis after obtaining a waiver from the NCAA, which has rules against two-tone uniforms. That, of course, won’t be an issue with the all-lavender look, which perfectly complement the lavender-trimmed home throwback uniforms the Wildcats unveiled earlier this season.
While those uniforms featured a script “Wildcats” across the front of the jersey, the road set prominently displays the words “Kansas” and “State” in an arched block font. In both cases, the shorts notably include a vintage Kansas State logo on the leg and the acronym “EMAW,” which stands for “Every Man A Wildcat,” on the waistband.
Check out more photos of the Wildcats all-lavender throwback uniforms — which were designed by Nike product designer and Kansas State alum Jason Wright — below:
Photos via @KStateMBB on Twitter.
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