Before students of UNC-Wilmington could get excited for Halloween, a week’s worth of activities and anticipation built up to the official tip-off of college basketball season at UNCW with the Seahawks’ annual “Midnite Madness” celebration.

There were a multitude of events throughout the week that led up to the event. An ice cream social during Wednesday’s men’s soccer game encouraged students to come out and support the athletic department and cheer on the men as they took on nationally ranked Old Dominion University.

Thursday morning there was a joint venture between UNCW’s athletic department and Campus Dining.

Dub’s Café invited students to come out and interact with both the men’s and women’s basketball teams for an opportunity to win “Midnite Madness” t-shirts and other fun prizes through games such as cornhole and a wheel-of-fortune.

When the big night finally came, campus dormitories and various student communities held parties to celebrate. One of the most notable was held in the “Big Backyard” of Graham-Hewlett, Galloway, and the University Apartments.

Finally, it was time to make the traditional “Trask Trek” to Trask Coliseum.

Trask Coliseum quickly filled with spectators as the gates opened at 9 pm. The building’s lower levels were not large enough to hold everyone and eventually caused the crowd to quickly spill over to the upper decks. 

The event was kicked off by the cheerleaders and dance team, with both squads showing off acrobatic displays of athleticism. UNCW’s pep band was also hard at work, hyping up the crowd with various classics that included Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer”.

Both basketball teams made their way onto the court along with dance group Physical Graffiti, where a dance contest ensued. This eventually led into one of the biggest performances of the night.

Redshirt-sophomore, Marcus Bryan, entertained the crowd by lip-syncing Drake’s latest single “Hotline Bling”.

When it was finally time to introduce the teams, each player walked out onto the court, t-shirt in hand, and tossed one of the prizes into the crowd for one lucky student to take home for themselves.

Men’s head basketball coach Kevin Keatts made the grandest entrance of them all. When introduced, Keatts rolled onto the court by way of a hoverboard, welcomed by roaring cheers, in reference to Wednesday’s “Back to the Future” Day.

To conclude the night’s events, a 3-point shootout and dunk contest was held between both teams.

Junior Denzel Ingram won the 3-point contest in the final round over junior Jenny DeGraaf.

After multiple ties in the dunk contest, junior Jenea Williams was asked to end things the right way with a dunk of her own.

After several tries and near-misses, Williams was able to palm the ball and get just enough elevation to slam one home. Trask Coliseum exploded in excitement.

Basketball season has begun.