STEPHENVILLE — Tarleton State Men’s and Women’s Basketball kicked off their 2025-26 season with the first-ever Midnight Madness at the EECU Center.
Fans flooded the entrance to the brand-new arena to rushed to their seats and grabbed their free Purple and White t-shirts. The fans filled the lower bowl with DJ Quan entertaining the crowd until the first performance. Texan Cheer opened the entertainment for the night with another brilliant performance. Foul Play followed pepping the crowd for the night.
The first fan contest of the night pitted four members of each of the four classes (freshman, sophomores, juniors, seniors) against each other in a tug of war contests. The first match pitted the freshmen and seniors against the sophomores and juniors. The duo of freshmen and the seniors were victorious. The pair then broke into face each other in the championship bout. The freshmen class took the title claiming the 2025 Midnight Madness Tug of War Championship.
The entertainment resumed with a colorful performance from the Tarleton State Color Guard. The second contest of the night was the first of the Purple and White matchups. Four fans of the white team faced off against four team purple fans in a challenge of being a student-athlete. Each member of the team was required to make a shot and then answer a trivia question. The game was in a relay format with Team White besting Team Purple finishing all four of their shots and questions first.
The Texan Stars were the next to perform thrilling the crowd and getting them on their feet. The final fan contest of the night featured a relay race consisting of four students from Team Purple and four students from Team White. Each team was required to make a layup and then grab their favorite Halloween costume piece. Team White was awarded the best Halloween costume.
As the clock neared 11:45 p.m., the crowd started to grow anxious anticipating the introduction of the men’s and women’s squads. After a second performance from Texan cheer, the crowd erupted in a “Go Texans!” chant as the clock hit midnight.
The basketball portion commenced right at midnight with the women’s basketball hype video starting the madness. Then each of the women’s players came out to their walk out song through a pair of sparklers. The men’s squad started their night with the hype video and the introduction of the players and staff.
The first game of the night found the top 3-point shooter across both squads. The first matchup of the night found the women’s top sharpshooter in the matchup of Alexis Rynders and Caroline Lyles. Lyles took the victory and advanced to the final. The men’s competition between Leroy Kelly IV and Kade Douglas was quite the duel. Douglas took the men’s crown after a sudden-death competition to take on Lyles in the finals. Lyles won the title in another sudden-death extra time after each making six baskets in the first 30 seconds.
The final contest of the night was the free throw frenzy. President Hurley and First Lady Kindall Hurley closed out the shootout taking the final shots. Then their team composed of a men’s and women’s basketball player, Plowboy and P.A.N.K.U.S member each raced down and made a free throw. First Lady Kindall Hurley’s team came out victorious with a plowboy and a P.A.N.K.U.S member each winning a free ticket to the Hudson Westbrook concert.
The final basketball event of the night featured the Purple vs. White Men’s Basketball scrimmage. The two squads competed in an eight-minute scrimmage featuring a flurry of dunks and three pointers. Ultimately, the White Team came out as the victors, 17-15.
Chris Jones closed down the event with his comedy hypnotist performance. The former America’s Got Talent performer brought out 13 individuals to be hypnotized. The hypnotized individuals were turned into zombies after pulling several out of the crowd. He closed his performance with several individuals singing the lyrics to “Pink Pony Club”.
The Tarleton State Men’s Basketball program will open with the first-ever basketball game in the EECU Center an exhibition contest against TCU. The game will take place on the final day of Homecoming Week, Oct. 19th at 3 p.m. The first women’s basketball game will be an exhibition against Kansas State. The Texans will host the Wildcats on Oct. 27th at 7 p.m.
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