Curtis Kelly will play for the first time since Christmas when Kansas State takes on Texas Tech on Saturday.

Drama has surrounded Kelly, now a senior, who once had NBA dreams.

A failed two-year experiment at Connecticut, lengthy stays on Kansas State coach Frank Martin’s naughty list  and a humiliating six-game suspension for accepting clothing discounts at Dillard’s include his transgressions.

“This season, I made a lot of stupid mistakes,” Kelly said. “I have to apologize to the fans and my teammates. I already apologized to my teammates and my coaches and my family. I made a lot of stupid mistakes that I would make two or three years ago. Not now. I don’t know why I made those mistakes. But it happened.”

Coming out of high school in New York, he was one of the nation’s highest-rated recruits.