On Thursday, Purdue University Northwest held their 6th annual Late Night Madness event to kick off the beginning of the men’s and women’s basketball season. The event started at 9pm in the Hammond campus Fitness and Recreation Center gym and was free to all PNW students, faculty, and staff. The first 500 people to arrive at the event were given an exclusive Late Night Madness t-shirt and first in line for complimentary food by the following sponsors: Corporate Champions Chick-Fil-A of Merrillville, Jimmy Johns, Chartwells, Buffalo Wild Wings, Wendy’s, Dominos, and Pepsi.
“Late Night Madness is a great event to build awareness among our current students about the amazing athletics program here at Purdue Northwest,” said Doug Clark, Strategic Director of Communications at Purdue Northwest. “It’s evolved into a great tradition that instills pride in our sports teams and our university. We celebrate our student-athletes and want them to know how much their friends and peers support them, as well.”
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During the event, the audience was invited to participate with the PNW mascot, Leo the Lion, in a variety of fun activities, such as a 4-way tug of war, a dance-off competition, and a tennis ball throw. Each activity gave participants the chance to win amazing prizes, like a 4K Television and a PlayStation 4 with NBA 2k19.
“I came to Late Night Madness both this year and last year,” said student Alex Johnson. “I think it’s fun to hold these free events for the students once in a while. I believe it is also important to show our sport teams a little love by kicking off their season in a fun way, with a lot of support from their peers and friends.”
The men’s and women’s basketball teams, coached by Boomer Roberts and Tom Megyesi, were introduced to the cheering audience before they competed against each other in front of everybody in the gym. Both teams competed against each other in a 3-point shootout contest, with the victory ending up in the men’s team’s hands. Then, the men’s team competed among themselves in a dunk contest, and both the audience and the women’s team held up numbers to rate the best dunk. Although all of the dunks were impressive, only one winner was named champion and won tickets to see the Chicago Bulls play. Every player and the audience all showed great sportsmanship and enthusiasm by cheering on both teams during the entire night. The students, staff, and faculty took pride (Roar Pride!) in the madness.
Purdue University Northwest is a public university located in northwest Indiana, proudly offering more than 70 fields of study, students from 45 countries and 33 states, a 16-to-1 student-faculty ratio, and NCAA Division II athletics. To learn more about Purdue University Northwest, please visit www.pnw.edu.
