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

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.