Lights Out event kicks off the Bisons basketball season

Lipscomb University kicked off the basketball season with a bang during the Lipscomb Lights Out event. Allen Arena was packed on Oct. 29, with Lipscomb students pumped up and ready to see their new men’s and women’s basketball teams. The night featured exciting games that students played alongside the players. The competing students could win prizes and the crowd cheered in a mostly darkened stadium.

President Caleb Carlson and Vice President Ellie Moen of the Lippy Lunatics put on a show hosted the event’s games. Lipscomb did not have the Lights Out event last year and the Lippy Lunatics were thrilled to have it back. 

“It feels great man.” Carlson said after the Lights Out event. “It’s fun to bring back an event that’s a student body favorite and it’s been really fun to try to revive that tradition and we hope to bring it back.”

The Night featured five different games where students could win prizes including Apple AirPods, NeeDoh, Starbucks vouchers, 300 dollars for their Res Hall, and an electric scooter. The five games were a “Basketball Relay”, “Mattress Relay”, “Cheer Meter,” the “Price is right”, and “Hungry Hungry Hippos”. Each game was played with the most of the lights out in Allen Arena, and Bisons basketball fans loved the atmosphere. 

“I got to do this in the dark because most of the time we do it in the light.” said Mathew Brown, a junior accounting major after the event. “It’s so fun that we have students from the audience participate in the games and win awesome cool prizes.”

For the basketball relay the players and students had to dribble up and down the court and make a layup. Then the players had to make a 3-pointer while the students shot free throws; the first team to finish won. For the mattress relay, both players and students took turns belly-diving onto air mattresses to push them down the court. The team that pushed the air mattress down the court first won. 

The cheer meter game split the crowd into groups and had the cheerleaders teach the students the Lippy lunatic chants. The side that cheered the chant the loudest won. In the “price is right” students were paired up with players to guess the price of basketball items and events tickets. The student who got the most right won $300 to their Res Hall. 

The last game of the night was “Hungry Hungry Hippos.” Students lay down on scooters with buckets and the players pushed them around to capture basketballs, mimicking the Hungry Hungry Hippos board game. While every game was very exciting but this one got the crowd the most energized. 

Students, coaches, and players all enjoyed the festivities as Lipscomb celebrated the start of the 2026-27 season. Moen was thrilled at how the event turned out. 

“I think the biggest win that we have from this event truly is seeing the players come together on both teams and just being with the students.” Moen said. “It was so intentional of every game, every cheer, really making sure that the student body knows that the players care about them. So, I think the biggest win tonight was recognizing that we’re all here for each other and it’s so much more fun when we come together.” 

With students excited for the basketball season to start, both the men and women’s first games will be next week. The men’s first game is Nov. 2, against Southeast Missouri State and their home opener is Nov 7, against SIU Edwardsville. The Women’s first game is on Nov. 2, against Vanderbilt, with their home opener is also Nov. 7 against Carolina University. 

Featured Image Taken by Noah Moran