In vanquishing the Iowa Hawkeyes by an 87-75 margin, Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks secured a third title for the school’s head coach in the last eight seasons. And as expected, a record crowd was on hand to watch as the confetti rained down in Cleveland.
According to Nielsen fast-national data, ABC’s broadcast of Sunday’s college hoops championship game averaged 18.7 million viewers, marking the all-time biggest TV turnout for a women’s basketball game. The Gamecocks’ big win also stands as the most-watched basketball game—including all NBA broadcasts—since 2019. (Official live-plus-same-day deliveries will be available tomorrow morning.)
Per the preliminary data, the Iowa-South Carolina audience beat out last year’s landmark title tilt by 8.78 million viewers. That’s good for a staggering 89% improvement over what was once the biggest women’s hoops number in the modern Nielsen era. Based on the results for 2023, ABC’s coverage of the championship game should wind up ranked among the year’s top 60 broadcasts.
Carolina’s come-from-behind victory gives Staley bragging rights as the game’s top coach, and the statistics her charges have put up on her behalf are hard to overlook. In the past three years alone, Staley has amassed a 109-3 record, a spree capped by two rings. In downing Caitlin Clark & Co. yesterday, the Gamecocks avenged their loss to Iowa in the 2023 Final Four, while earning a spot alongside Baylor and Stanford as the third-most decorated program in the history of the women’s game.
While Clark has commandeered the headlines this season, Iowa simply could not figure out how to outmaneuver the undefeated Carolina squad under the glass. Led by center Kamilla Cardoso and her game-high 17 boards, the Gamecocks outrebounded the Hawkeyes by a 51-29 margin, using those caroms to notch no fewer than 30 second-chance points. Carolina’s bench also was not to be denied, outscoring Iowa’s backups 37-0, thanks in large part to frosh guard Tessa Johnson’s 19-point performance.
Clark put up 30 points in a losing effort, closing out her collegiate career with a staggering 3,951. Arguably responsible for luring more eyeballs to the sport than any other single player before her, Clark is a shoo-in to be selected first in next week’s WNBA draft.
Staley acknowledged Clark’s outsized contributions in an interview that aired on ESPN shortly after the nets came down. “I want to personally thank Caitlin Clark for lifting up our sport,” Staley said. “She carried a heavy load, [and] … when she is the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft, she’s going to lift that league up as well.”
With Sunday’s game in the books, Clark has appeared in the three most-watched women’s hoops broadcasts of all time, a spree that includes Iowa’s Final Four triumph over UConn (14.2 million viewers) and their Elite Eight revenge game against LSU (12.3 million).
While Clark helped serve up the sport’s biggest TV crowds, the sharpshooter will have her work cut out for her in the WNBA, where big numbers are much harder to come by. Per Nielsen, the 2023 WNBA Finals was the most-watched in 20 years, and the four-game series still only averaged 728,000 viewers on ESPN. Moreover, it’s been 16 years since a WNBA game last broke the million-viewer mark.
Clark went out with her head held high, even if the championship that has so long eluded her failed to materialize. “It’s really hard to win these things,” she said in a postgame interview. “I think I probably know that better than most people by now. To be so close twice, it definitely hurts, but at the same time, we were right there.”
Clark and her fans can expect to hear her name called on April 15 shortly after 7:30 p.m. EDT. Televised live from the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the draft will air live on ESPN and the ESPN app.
