Celebrated Silent Night Basketball Tradition Set for December 6

Get ready for the craziest basketball event of the year! Taylor University’s Silent Night basketball game opens at Odle Arena on Friday, December 6, 2024, at 6 pm.

This year’s crowd will follow the 27-year-old tradition of remaining silent until the Taylor Trojans score their 10th point. Then spectators will celebrate and cheer, dressed in wacky costumes. A media timeout is issued immediately after Taylor scores the point, so no technical foul is given for the 10th-point celebration.

The Trojans will play against the Moody Bible Institute Archers. Taylor’s all-time record for Silent Night games is 25-1.

When the game ends, the students gather together again to sing Silent Night in unison. Afterwards, an end-of-semester Christmas party in the LaRita Boren Campus Center wraps up the evening.

This unique tradition regularly attracts national media attention as a special display of Christmas enthusiasm and small college basketball. Just last month, Sports Illustrated wrote an article featuring Silent Night. Silent Night has also been featured by ESPN, CBS Sports, the IndyStar, CNN, and LA Times.

For those unable to make it in person, there will be a live broadcast beginning at 5:15pm with a pregame show. Every year, students give 110% to create wild and hilarious group costumes. Watch out for students dressed as beloved toys, characters, and even landmarks!

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 last hurrah right before finals week. In the 2010s, group costumes entered the scene. Now, students will even camp out by the gymnasium doors for days 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.