GCU fans, known for their nonstop energy, dance Friday during the Lopes’ Midnight Madness event inside Global Credit Union Arena. (Photo by Dylan Wickman/Cronkite News)

GCU men’s basketball coach Bryce Drew rallies the fans for the upcoming 2024-25 season Friday during Midnight Madness at Global Credit Union Arena. (Photo by Dylan Wickman/Cronkite News)

GCU guard Caleb Shaw high-fives fans as he enters the Lopes’ Midnight Madness event Friday inside Global Credit Union Arena. (Photo by Dylan Wickman/Cronkite News)

PHOENIX – Camping out before any event is nothing short of madness anyway, but almost 250 Grand Canyon University students took it to another level, setting up tents and hammocks to stand in line Thursday in record-breaking Arizona October heat.

For Lopes fans sweating out a chance to see their basketball team, it’s all worth it.

GCU hosted its annual Midnight Madness celebration Friday, unofficially tipping off the 2024-25 basketball seasons for the men and women’s teams. While the event is a party for the entire Lopes community, it is also a strong show of support for GCU’s athletes.

And the theme for this year’s March Madness event was “Lope Vegas,” a nod to Grand Canyon’s intended destination at the end of the regular season – the Western Athletic Conference basketball tournaments for men and women at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

“Every year, they just keep topping Midnight Madness,” said Molly Miller, GCU’s women’s basketball coach. “I just thought the crowd engagement was so special this year. The energy was off the charts.”

GCU women’s basketball coach Molly Miller fires up the crowd Friday during the Lopes’ Midnight Madness event inside Global Credit Union Arena. (Photo by Dylan Wickman/Cronkite News)

That’s saying something for the basketball-crazy campus.

Students were lined up in the Quad on the GCU campus Friday, waiting to be the first Lopes to enter Global Credit Union Arena. However, they didn’t just walk up. Four nights before Midnight Madness, GCU students participated in Camp Elliot, a tradition started in 2015 by former GCU student Daniel Elliott, in which students begin camping on the Quad, day and night leading up to the event.

“Our football is basketball,” said GCU freshman Magdalene Lopko.

Students have until 10:45 p.m. Friday to secure their place in line before doors open. Some fans spend the entire day lined up, taking chairs or tables from around campus, sitting in a circle to play card games or taking shifts with their friends to keep their place in line.

The dedication of fans toward basketball at the school is not lost on the teams, who are driven by the atmosphere at Global Credit Union Arena, where the “GCU Havocs” student section has been compared to the best in college hoops.

“This just fuels us for a great year, and it’s very special,” Miller said. “And there’s, like I said, no place like GCU.”

This season is particularly special for the Lopes, who are competing for the last time in the WAC. GCU moves into the West Coast Conference for the 2025-26 season.

The men’s team is coming off a successful season with a WAC championship and its first NCAA Tournament victory, an upset of fifth-seeded St. Mary’s. Meanwhile, the women’s team hopes to rebound after a first-round loss in the WAC Tournament.

Once inside the arena, fans waited an hour until the event began with the anticipation building. Fans screamed, sang and danced to music while a countdown clock lit up the video screen.

Decked out in Las Vegas-themed costumes from oversized suits to a deck of cards to the Statue of Liberty and even a bridal gown, the fans danced to remixed music and cheered on the GCU cheerleaders and dance team.

GCU cheerleaders energize the crowd with a high-flying stunt inside Global Credit Union Arena before the start of Friday’s Midnight Madness. (Photo by Dylan Wickman/Cronkite News)

The GCU marching band kept the school spirit alive with the school fight song and renditions of popular songs. The band’s drumline was decked out as the “Purple Man Group,” in a nod to the “Blue Man Group,” a Las Vegas show staple. The group kept the fans entertained with silent, wide-eyed looks at the crowd while mimicking dance moves before surprising the crowd with a drum group extravaganza at midnight.

Grand Canyon’s mascot Thunder made an appearance in the dance team performance and with a slot machine, designating a section to receive free T-shirts with each spin. By the third spin, the slot showed “GCU,” bringing out the entire cheer and dance teams to a screaming crowd of students ready to be owners of new GCU merch.

With GCU basketball considered an NCAA Tournament contender each year, the fans’ excitement for the season opener never wanes. Miller said having such a dedicated and faithful fan base propels the team to success.

“You have to pinch yourself because this doesn’t happen on every college campus,” Miller said. “We’re so blessed by the support, and I think the mission of the university, being Christ-centered and putting that first and everything else follows, is huge.”

Redshirt sophomore Malcolm Flaggs, who spent one year at Arizona State, said that GCU’s tipoff to basketball season is unlike any other.

Flaggs attributes GCU’s unique culture to the mission behind the Christ-centered school that brings extra meaning to their gameplay and fan base.

“It means the world, honestly,” Flaggs said. “God’s blessed us with an amazing group of fans and an amazing campus, and the people that are running it are doing an amazing job and really incorporating us and the big picture at GCU.”

Thunder the Antelope joins the GCU dance team in a surprise performance Friday during Midnight Madness at Global Credit Union Arena. (Photo by Dylan Wickman/Cronkite News)

Miller engaged the crowd by having fans join in her signature coaching chant, which she does with the team in practice. She tells them to “clap it up” and scream out their passion for basketball.

Bryce Drew, the men’s basketball coach, agreed with Miller’s assessment that the level of excitement at this year’s March Madness reached a new high. Drew said walking in with GCU President Brian Mueller and being in the arena with the Lopes makes the season exciting, but it doesn’t stop there.

“We need your help every year that we come out here,” Drew told fans during the event. “We cannot perform our best, we cannot play our best, we cannot look our best across the nation without you coming to the games, you all fly into the games, you all cheering at the games, you all being the best in the country at what you do.”

Drew didn’t need to tell the GCU faithful how important they are to the team – or how important basketball is to the student body.

“I think being a freshman here, (basketball is) really known as a staple,” said GCU student Ethan Noel. “I know it’s very important to a lot of people around it. It’s one of the main attractions that people come out here for. It’s a lot of fun, a lot of energy, just throughout the entire game.”

GCU opens the season Oct. 9 against Eastern New Mexico at Global Credit Union Arena, when Noel and the rest of the Lopes’ fans will have a chance to bring their Midnight Madness energy back to the court for the official tip at 7 p.m.