Indiana Alumni-Based Team Assembly Ball Announces Roster for 2025 The Basketball Tournament

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Assembly Ball, the Indiana alumni team participating in The Basketball Tournament (TBT), finalized its roster Wednesday with tipoff looming Saturday at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Assembly Ball, which reached the Butler regional championship game in its debut appearance last year, welcomes back several former Hoosier standouts. Guards Yogi Ferrell and Jordan Hulls return to Assembly Ball's backcourt, and in the frontcourt will be forwards Juwan Morgan, Troy Williams, Christian Watford, Race Thompson and Noah Vonleh.

Williams and Watford were present on Assembly Ball's bench but didn't play in 2024, while Vonleh was listed on the initial roster but never appeared in Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Forward Miller Kopp battled NBA Summer League scheduling conflicts in last year's The Basketball Tournament but played in Assembly Ball's final two games. Kopp, who's committed to playing for the Detroit Pistons' Summer League squad through at least Friday, is in a similarly uncertain spot this summer.

"I'm in for the TBT if it works out schedule-wise," Kopp told Indiana Hoosiers On SI's Tom Brew on Tuesday. "I really want to play, but if they lose, they're out. But if I can get there, I will."

Assembly Ball has a pair of ex-Hoosiers making their first TBT appearance in guards James Blackmon Jr. and Aljami Durham. Blackmon and Durham, who transferred to Providence College for his final college season in 2021-22, now play professionally overseas -- the former in Belgium and the latter in Spain.

There's also center Luke Fischer, who transferred from Indiana after the first semester of his freshman year in 2013 and played the remainder of his college career at Marquette University. The 6-foot-11, 259-pound Fischer plays for Real Betis of the Liga ACB, the top level of basketball in Spain.

Whether they’re candy-striped lifers like Ferrell and Morgan or those who finished their careers elsewhere in Durham and Fischer, 11 of the 15 players on Assembly Ball's second roster have Indiana ties.

Let's meet the other four:

Jarron Cumberland

A 6-foot-5, 205-pound guard who played collegiately at the University of Cincinnati, Cumberland was the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 2018-19. The 27-year-old spent four seasons in the NBA G-League, and in April he signed with Caballeros de Culiacán in Mexico.

Cumberland starred for the Delaware Blue Coats in the G-League this past season, averaging 19.6 points, 5.2 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game while shooting 47.3% from the field and 46.1% from beyond the arc.

The Wilmington, Ohio, native played for Cincinnati's alumni-based team last year, but "Nasty Nati" didn't enter The Basketball Tournament this summer, prompting Cumberland to make the two-and-a-half-hour drive west to Bloomington.

Julian Gamble

An eight-year TBT veteran, Gamble played for Assembly Ball in 2024 and is back this summer. He spent six years at the University of Miami from 2008-13 and has played professionally overseas for 14 teams. He most recently appeared for the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers in Taiwan but was released in January.

Gamble, 6-foot-10 and 265 pounds, introduced himself to the Hoosier faithful last year by capping a 17-point performance with a game-winning layup in his Assembly Ball debut. He followed with 11 points and a game-winning free throw in his next outing and started Assembly Ball's third contest but was removed due to an injury and didn't return.

One year later, he gets the chance to write a different ending.

Jordan King

A 6-foot, 175-pound guard from Albany, New York, King played for three schools -- Siena College, East Tennessee State University and the University of Richmond -- across five years of college basketball. He was named the Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Year for 2023-24 after averaging 18 points per game at Richmond.

King spent his first year as a professional with Lucentum Alicante in Spain. He signed a two-year contract Monday with Maroussi B.C., which competes in the highest league in Greece.

QJ Peterson

The 30-year-old Peterson is a well-accomplished scorer in The Basketball Tournament. He had a single-game tournament-best 30 points in 2023 and topped himself with a 32-point performance in 2024.