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UCF’s win over VCU Gets Largest-Ever TV Audience For UCF Basketball ... For Now

UCF’s upcoming game with Duke could easily eclipse it

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament-First Round-Virginia Commonwealth vs UCF
More than 3.5 million people watched Aubrey Dawkins, Tacko Fall and UCF dismantle VCU on Friday night on CBS.
Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

The UCF Knights’ historic win over VCU on Friday night on CBS was watched by 3.55 million viewers according to TVByTheNumbers. It is by far the most-watched UCF Basketball game nationally in the program’s history.

The game did a 1.1 national rating, which was the highest rated program in all of television behind only the Duke-North Dakota State game, which did a 1.8 rating in the previous time slot with 6.20 million viewers.

The Knights’ 73-58 win on Friday is the 5th-most watched UCF sporting event nationally. Below is where the NCAA Tournament game ranks all-time in UCF Athletics history.

  1. 2014 Fiesta Bowl vs. Baylor (ABC) - 11.3 million viewers
  2. 2019 Fiesta Bowl vs. LSU (ESPN) - 8.47 million viewers
  3. 2018 Peach Bowl vs. Auburn (ESPN) - 8.38 million viewers
  4. 2017 Black Friday vs. South Florida (ABC) - 4.7 million viewers
  5. 2019 NCAA Tournament 3/22/19 vs VCU (CBS) - 3.55 million viewers
  6. 2017 AAC Championship Game vs. Memphis (ABC) - 3.385 million viewers

Of course the VCU victory will not be the record for too long, as it is expected the Knights 2nd round game on Sunday vs #1 Duke (CBS at 5:15pm ET) will it least double the audience of the VCU game as the most-watched UCF Basketball game ever.

The question is can it challenge the UCF bowl games among most-watched UCF event of all-time?

Stay with Black and Gold Banneret for a complete breakdown of UCF Basketball in the NCAA Tournament and TV numbers this week.