NCAA Women's Final Four Game Shattered Television Viewership Records

Friday night's college basketball contest between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the UConn Huskies made history. Iowa's 71-69 win over UConn in the Women's Final Four averaged 14.2 million followers on ESPN. This number makes it the most-viewed women's basketball game on record.

Richard Deitsch of The Athletic shared the numbers via Twitter/X.

Deitsch also noted that the game peaked at 17 million viewers. Friday's game also topped these other major sporting events over the years.

The previous record didn't last that long. It came on Monday, when Iowa took on LSU in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Women's Tournament. That game drew 12.3 million viewers.

Iowa-UConn was the most-viewed game in any sport other than college football and the NFL over the past couple of years. This comes as no surprise when you consider the type of pull Hawkeye superstar Caitlin Clark possesses. The sharpshooting phenom has been the darling of the sport for the entire season, and rightfully so.

The 22-year-old has lifted the women's sport in ways that some couldn't even imagine, though she isn't doing it alone. UConn and star Paige Bueckers were also responsible for the record draw.

These two ladies duked it out all night long and did their teams right. Although neither player led her team in scoring, they still did their jobs. Clark played all 40 minutes and put in 21 points on 7-for-18 shooting, nine rebounds, and seven assists. As for Bueckers, she also played the entire game, putting up 17 points on 7-for-17 shooting, four rebounds, and three assists.

Iowa is moving on to the championship game, and UConn will go another year without a title. The Huskies have not won a national championship since 2016. The Hawkeyes will play the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks.

The Gamecocks are 38-0 and will look for their third title in program history and their second in three years. Iowa is still searching for its first national title in program history. The Hawkeyes fell short last season when they lost in the national championship to LSU. They'll look to finish the job this year against their toughest opponent to date.

This Iowa game might not draw the same type of crowd it did in the Elite Eight and Final Four; however, with Clark on the court, we shouldn't be surprised if it does.