26th Annual Silent Night Game Set for Friday

Upland, Indiana—Taylor University’s Silent Night basketball game opens on the Odle Gymnasium court on Friday, December 8, 2023, at 6 pm.

The sold-out crowd will follow the 26-year-old tradition of remaining silent until the Taylor Trojans score their 10th point. Then, spectators flood the court, celebrating wildly in festive costumes. No technical foul is given for the 10th-point celebration, and a media timeout is issued immediately after Taylor scores the point.

The Trojans will play against the Great Lakes Christian College Crusaders. Taylor’s all-time record for Silent Night games is 24-1.

This unique tradition regularly attracts national media attention as a special display of Christmas enthusiasm and small college basketball. This year, CBS Sports will be covering the event on site. Silent Night has been featured by Sports Illustrated, ESPN, CBS Sports, the IndyStar, CNN, and LA Times.

New this year, game coverage will include a pregame show starting at 5:15 pm that will be broadcast live. It will feature interviews with special guests, dynamic warmup action, and the incredible array of costumes.

At the end of the game, the students place their arms around each other’s shoulders to sing Silent Night in unison. The evening will wrap up with an end-of-semester Christmas party after the game in the Hodson Dining Commons wraps up the evening.

Silent Night began as the Ivanhoe’s Classic, a four-team tournament starting in 1984. As the years went on, students began attending in their pajamas and the game became a study break right before finals week. In the 2010s, costumes entered the scene and students even camped out by the gymnasium doors the day before the game.

Silent Night is sponsored by Ivanhoe’s Drive In, a family-owned landmark restaurant in Upland that’s famous for ice cream sundaes and milkshakes.