Duke-NC State is most-watched Elite Eight game since 2019 in record-breaking day for CBS Sports, TNT Sports
Fans were tuned into the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament this year, with CBS Sports and TNT Sports delivering the most-watched slate of Elite Eight games since 2019.
Viewership for the games was announced on Tuesday, just a couple of days after those games finished on Sunday. The headline game for the weekend was an ACC affair, with the Cinderella team NC State taking on traditional powerhouse Duke while 15.1 million viewers tuned into the game. It also had a peak of 18.8 million viewers.
It’s that NC State-Duke game that is the most-watched Elite Eight game since the 2019 season. Those 15.1 million viewers were up 34 percent and was the most-watched telecast on Easter on any network in 11 years, when Duke and Louisville met in the 2013 Elite Eight.
The games on CBS during Easter Sunday averaged 12.8 million viewers. That’s up 30 percent from last season. It’s part of a spike in overall NCAA Tournament viewership being quite high. This year, games are averaging 9.4 million viewers across CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV. Again, that’s up from last year, in this case by four percent.
The other Elite Eight game on Sunday, between Purdue and Tennessee, averaged 10.4 million viewers and peaked at 15.3 million viewers, just a little above the average viewership for the NC State and Duke game.
In the end, NC State was able to pull off an upset win over Duke and move to the Final Four. It was another step in the incredible run that the Wolfpack have been on this March. NC State wasn’t expected to make the NCAA Tournament, but they surprised many by winning the ACC Tournament and earning an automatic bid. Since then, they’ve marched through the NCAA Tournament as an 11-seed.
Now, NC State will take on Purdue in the Final Four with a chance to play for a national championship on the line.
Jon Scheyer on the Duke program
Despite losing to NC State in the Elite Eight, head coach Jon Scheyer is still happy with the status of the Duke basketball program.
“To be honest with you, I’m not thinking about my job and these two years. I’m thinking about the fact that this group just came back after having a tough ACC Tournament loss and have played their hearts out in three tournament games, and they’re winning at halftime. They’re heartbroken after the game because it didn’t go the way they wanted it to. I’m thinking about these guys,” Scheyer said.
“Where is our program at? I think our program couldn’t be in a stronger place.”