LSU Women’s Basketball Coach Kim Mulkey Comments on Caitlin Clark’s Elite Eight Performance
In a historic night for women’s college basketball, Iowa’s win over LSU in the Elite Eight game became the most-watched game in history. The game averaged an impressive 12.3 million viewers, peaking at 16 million viewers. The excitement continued with UConn’s victory over USC, drawing 6.7 million viewers, surpassing most title game viewership since 1996.
Prior to last year, the record for an NCAA women’s basketball title game in the ESPN era was 5.68 million viewers. Iowa’s previous game against Colorado in the Sweet 16 also broke records, averaging 6.9 million viewers for that round.
Fans are now eagerly anticipating the national semifinals on Friday night on ESPN, with South Carolina facing off against N.C. State in the early game, and Iowa set to take on UConn in the late game. Last year’s Final Four weekend had an average of 6.5 million viewers, with the semifinals drawing the largest audience ever for a semifinal.
UConn has long been the standard bearer for women’s basketball viewership, and the emergence of star player Caitlin Clark has taken the sport to new heights. With record-breaking numbers already being set this tournament, the future looks bright for women’s basketball and its growing fan base.
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