Before the Texas A&M men’s and women’s basketball teams kick off the 2015-2016 season on the hardwood, the Aggies are throwing a kick-off event for their fans Friday.

With the beginning of the basketball season right around the corner, the two teams will host Plaza Palooza this Friday from 10-11:30 p.m. on the northeast plaza outside of Kyle Field.

Free food — including pepperoni rolls, cotton candy and popcorn — will be available for the duration of the event, which will also have a 12th man towel giveaway. 

At Tuesday’s news conference, Texas A&M women’s basketball coach Gary Blair said he is looking forward to his players having some exposure and relatability to the students and fans.

“The Plaza Palooza thing, we can interact with young people there, whether we’re doing three-on-three or hoist them on our shoulders, or doing games,” Blair said. 

Blair said for the main event, there will be a live performance from “the rapping professor,” Reginald Stuckey. 

“The rapper that’s going to perform, I’m looking forward to hearing him, he’s a professor here,” Blair said. “I think that’s all good. Anything that we can do to promote fun, and that’s what this is going to be, it’s going to be about fun, and we just want students to come over and meet us and shake our hands and realize we’re just students like they are.”

A basketball hoop will be set up on the plaza for fans to participate in shooting contests and other activities. After the festivities, both the men’s and women’s basketball teams will be introduced in front of the 12th Man at the Midnight Yell practice prior to Saturday’s football game against No. 10 Alabama.

Both teams will kickoff their seasons in a couple of weeks. The women’s team will host Texas Wesleyan on Nov. 1 in an exhibition before their official season opener against Texas State on Nov. 13. The men’s team will play their exhibition on Nov. 6 against Texas A&M-International before kicking off their season at Reed Arena on Nov. 13 against USC Upstate.