Tuesday’s women’s basketball exhibition game at Diddle Arena will be the first opportunity for students to earn points through WKU’s new Red Wave student group.

Students who join the Red Wave can show their ID and earn points for every WKU athletic event they attend. Students who earn a certain amount of points by certain times this year will be entered to win WKU gear and other prizes, including having early access to NCAA Tournament basketball tickets.

This is the first year the WKU Athletics Department has used the new student group.

Zack McKay, WKU’s director of athletics marketing, said the Red Wave was established to give students more reasons to attend athletics events.

“We kind of wanted to give the students a little more of an incentive to come to the game,” McKay said. “A lot of students we talked to talked about priority tickets for postseason play and that’ll be another added benefit for our Red Wave members. Say if we get a 100-ticket allotment from the NCAA Tournament, if we get 100 tickets for students, the top 100 Red Wave members will get those tickets.”

The fee to join Red Wave is $10. Students can sign up at tonight’s exhibition Lady Topper basketball game at 7 p.m. at Diddle Arena, which will be worth two points, or apply through the Athletics Department on designated days later this month.

Students who join immediately get a t-shirt and a sticker to put on their ID. Red Wave members can present their ID with the sticker at athletics events, where their card will be swiped to prove they were in attendance.

Men’s and women’s basketball games will be the easiest way for students to earn points — students will get two points for every basketball game they attend — but there will also be several volleyball, baseball and softball games that will be worth points as well. WKU’s final home football game, on Nov. 30 against Arkansas State, will be worth 10 points.

Athletics Director Todd Stewart said he hopes WKU fans take advantage of the new student group.

“Students bring energy and they bring excitement,” Stewart said. “Any time we can involve the students in anything that we do, particularly our home sporting events, it’s a great thing.”