November Madness: A Marathon Start to College Basketball Season in Rock Hill, South Carolina

It’s 12:01 a.m. on a Monday morning in Rock Hill, South Carolina, but the raucous atmosphere inside the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center makes the first college basketball game of the season for High Point and Liberty feel more like a primetime March Madness matchup.

Rowdy college students dress in pajama pants and sleeping masks, shout for every 3-point shot and try to distract free throw shooters. Pep bands fill the 1,200-seat venue with classic arena tunes and fight songs. From my media perch right above droves of fans, there doesn’t appear to be an empty seat in the house. 

The Panthers, a preseason Big South Conference favorite that was the lowest-seeded team to win a game in last year’s NCAA tournament, beat the Flames 75-72, with the final buzzer sounding at almost 2 in the morning. 

That was just the start, however. Over the course of the next 22 hours, five more games would take place in Rock Hill as part of the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon, which also included two games in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and marked the return of the 24-hour college basketball opening day event that had once been a favorite of hoopheads but hadn’t been held in nearly a decade.

When players from Louisiana’s Grambling State and Northern Illinois rolled out of the locker room for pregame warmups at 2:30 a.m., the midnight crowd had largely dispersed, but a buzz remained with the fans who stuck around.

The morning had shifted into real basketball “sicko” hours, with an impromptu warm-up slam dunk contest, one fan dressed in a nightgown and another one donning an inflatable basketball costume.

If I could describe the Rock Hill 3am game with 3 visuals: https://t.co/19NSUVCvJL
— CBB Sicko (@CBBSicko) November 2, 2026

I may not be a sicko myself, but I’m sure my friends and family thought I was out of my mind when I told them I’d be covering college basketball into the wee hours of the morning. But between the lively atmosphere I experienced and fascinating sights I caught, it was well worth the negative impact on my sleep routine. 

Overnight Basketball in South Carolina

A city with approximately 76,000 residents just a half-hour drive outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, Rock Hill takes pride in being home to one of the most unique college sports events on the calendar.

Brian Jones, Rock Hill Sports and Event Center supervisor for the city’s parks, recreation and tourism department, said Jeff Goodman, basketball analyst and Field of 68 co-founder, reached out to Rock Hill about hosting the event back in 2025. The partnership continued in 2026, with the ambitious plan to start at midnight on opening day. 

Since basketball had always been part of the vision behind the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center, Jones saw the event as a chance to get eyes on the venue. 

“It’s a great opportunity to showcase our facility,” Jones said. “We’re not scared of the work. We’re not scared of the hours. We’re not scared of the 3 a.m., 6 a.m. games. The staff was very excited about the opportunity to do it, so we looked at it and went full steam ahead.”

The event offered branded T-shirts, breakfast sandwiches at concession stands and an artisan coffee bar — a wider variety of options than you’d find at a basketball game held during normal hours.

Nate Kingsley, owner of Mug and Maple, the local coffee shop selling lattes to basketball fans, said he moved to the Rock Hill area in February and has found the area is frequently hosting unique events.

“This town does a lot of cool stuff,” Kingsley said. “Everything they’ve got going on here is interesting and completely what I’m not used to, so we try to jump at whatever.”

The 24-hour college basketball opening day marathon isn’t a brand-new concept, but it hasn’t been around in a while. The first overnight basketball event was broadcast by ESPN in 2008, with the format lasting nine seasons before it ended in 2017 due to “programming challenges.” 

The Field of 68, a digital sports network focused on college basketball, has officially revived the concept. Prior to the 2026 all-nighter, Field of 68 hosted two years of tip-off events: first in 2024 exclusively at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, expanding to include Rock Hill in 2025. 

Last year, Rock Hill’s first game tipped off at 8 a.m. This year, the action started right after the clock struck midnight. 

High Energy — And Highly Eccentric

Outside of the arena, it felt just like a late night in early November: still, calm and mostly quiet aside from some foot traffic outside the Little Empire Pizza restaurant that stayed open for the crowd of devoted fans.

I stepped inside just as the national anthem was getting underway ahead of the first game of four morning matchups. The midnight crowd was sold out and rocking the venue. I noticed many seats were occupied by energized students ready for the basketball season to begin, and I could barely hear the employee who handed me my media wristband. 

High Point (roughly 100 miles north of Rock Hill) and Liberty (225 miles north) each brought busloads of students to Rock Hill, giving the neutral-site game an on-campus feel.

Aidan Smith, a senior at High Point who was part of a group that the school flew out to Portland for the Panthers’ first-round upset win over No. 5-seed Wisconsin in last year’s NCAA tournament, said 300 students took a university-operated bus to Monday’s game. He estimated about 200 students were on the waitlist.

Smith said High Point provided branded pajama pants and purple sleep masks to students for the game — and the bus ride home right after the game. Smith said he received an email that students were still expected to be in class on Monday, even after the long drive back to campus after midnight basketball.

“It really just shows the school spirit,” Smith said. “[High Point] does a lot of cool things to inspire the students to come out, go to the events and have some tangible merchandise to go along with it.”

Even though about 70% of the crowd departed before the 3 a.m. game between the Tigers and Huskies started, the energy didn’t dissipate as much as it just changed.

The vibes shifted from classic college basketball energy to a quirky, flashy show between mid-major programs that was perfectly tailored to the real sickos in the crowd.

Grambling State’s players created their own energy before the game even began, bursting out of the locker room and holding a team slam dunk competition during warmups. The fans who remained around 2:50 a.m. got a treat.

It is 2:50 in the morning and Grambling State is having a dunk contest to warm up 😭
@gsutigers_mbb https://t.co/XwMmVGkUI2

— Ryan Hammer🔨 (@ryanhammer09) November 2, 2026

Tigers head coach Patrick Crarey said he didn’t expect many fans would stick around for the 3 a.m. game, but he was impressed with the crowd he saw once the game started — though he had an idea of why fans might have been so excited to be there.

With Grambling State heading into the game as an 8.5-point underdog, Crarey speculated that sports gambling factored into the burst of energy felt in Rock Hill.

“All of a sudden, we had 50 fans because we’re plus-eight,” Crarey said. “They’re like, ‘We’re all Grambling over here!’ … Somebody behind us had a Grambling jersey on. I don’t know where the hell he got a Grambling jersey, but it was fun.”

That game wrapped up just before 5:30 a.m., with Grambling State coming away with the 89-87 upset over Northern Illinois in a close matchup that made it worth sticking around for the event’s most devoted fans.

“For me, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Crarey said. “Nobody else is playing in the country. Probably more eyeballs than we’ll get all season, outside of if we’re blessed to play in the national tournament at some point in time. So for me, it’s all about representing Grambling.”

The night (or, morning?) rolled on after that, but I could not. I made it to the hotel before the 6 a.m. game tipped off between Appalachian State and Merrimack; I wasn’t enough of a sicko to keep up the stamina through the morning. The Mountaineers topped the Warriors, 63-49, in front of a crowd that started building throughout the 3 a.m. game. I noticed a few App State shirts and hats before I left the arena.

By 9 a.m., Rock Hill’s Winthrop faced off against Charlotte’s Queens in a regional matchup. The local school fell to Queens 103-98, and the first four games in Rock Hill were completed.

Opening day resumed with two evening games in Rock Hill. In the 5:30 tip-off, McNeese State dominated UAB, 99-78, and in the 8 p.m. finale, Furman notched the last win of the day, defeating Bethune-Cookman, 79-70, in front of a friendly audience. The Paladins are based in Greenville, South Carolina, about 90 minutes from Rock Hill, which also happens to be my home base. I had left for the arena at 9 p.m. Sunday, and after a full day of hoops we didn’t head back home until 6:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.

By then, the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center was quiet. Its marathon day of hosting had wrapped up around 10 p.m. Monday night, 22 hours after it tipped off, bringing an end to the long but inspiring day that showcased what mid-major college basketball — and the city — have to offer.

For Rock Hill, events like the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon play a large role in building its destination profile, showcasing the city to a new audience and driving tourism to the area through sports.

“This is one of those things that we like to do to put us on the map, like a feather-in-the-cap type of deal,” Jones said. “It brings awareness. People might not know exactly where Rock Hill or York County is. Our restaurant stayed open late; that helps us out. Hotels, heads in beds, things like that are huge. Just to do an event on a Monday, even though it’s Sunday night, it’s big time. That’s a big deal.”