Beyond what happens on the Sawyer Center court, SNU basketball games are full of students coming together to support their classmates.
Sports and Recreation Lead Natalie Nolan shared how her SALT team works to increase involvement in the SNU student section every year and promote attending SNU athletic events to other students. Leading the crowd in halftime games is the primary way the team helps create a memorable game day experience. Nolan expressed, “We are a university that is growing, so we are finding ways to engage students, similar to big state schools. It is important to us because we want all students to have a great experience with athletics.”
This year Nolan and her team created more halftime games, T-shirt giveaways and game themes that encourage unity among students. A brand-new addition this year is the Student Section GroupMe, which shares information on how students can be part of athletic events. A new event for the 2025-26 basketball season was Pizza With the Presidents, where Dr. Newman and each class president handed out pizza from a shopping cart to game attendees during halftime to connect students with their university president and Senate student representatives.
Throughout the basketball season, the Sports and Recreation team led the student section in many games. They kicked off the season with Jersey Shuffle, where two teams of four participated in a relay race taking turns wearing an SNU basketball jersey. To pass the jersey, participants had to shoot a basket and run back to their team. The first team to have all four members make a basket secured the victory. This accomplished Nolan’s goal: “We want students to be engaged, having fun and enjoying themselves.”
During the basketball game against SNU’s friendly rivals, Oklahoma Baptist University, the crowd participated in mattress surfing. Attendees received the traditional “Beat OBU” shirt. This year’s shirts came with a new twist that read, “Jesus loves you, even our friends at OBU.”
Freshman Tajon Williams expressed, “Attending athletic games has been a great time. There is a lot of good energy and people showing up!” The social life team member was part of the team that won the mattress surfing competition. He recalled having a lot of fun, especially because his team completed most of the race with a popped mattress. He shared that attending games enhances his SNU experience: “It helps me get involved and know more people around campus.” The SNU football wide receiver said that when game attendees have someone they are there to support, they become more engaged fans and help create a better student section experience.
Nolan and Williams both expressed how their SNU experience has been enhanced by being part of the student section, where they created new connections and memories this basketball season.
Photo by: Anthony Cox