Jackson State wasn’t able to pull off the upset it wanted against UConn in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, but it did have a large viewing audience.
The viewership numbers are in for the first weekend of the women’s NCAA Tournament and Saturday’s Jackson State-UConn matchup was one of the most viewed first round games of all-time.
According to ESPN’s figures, 1.1 million viewers tuned in to UConn-Jackson State on ABC on Saturday. That was the second-highest viewed game over the weekend and the third-most viewed first round game in history, according to the report. Saturday’s first round matchup between Iowa and Holy Cross, featuring NCAA all-time leading scorer Caitlin Clark, pulled in a record 3.2 million viewers on ABC. That game was the most viewed pre-semifinal in NCAA Tournament history.
Third-seeded UConn came away with an 86-64 win on its home court over Jackson State.
While the outcome was not what Jackson State fans and HBCU supporters around the country would have liked, the game did put JSU in the spotlight in a way that few women’s basketball programs – and likely no HBCU women’s basketball programs – have been in. JSU head coach Tomekia Reed said after the game putting the spotlight on HBCUs was important to her.
“For me at Jackson State – I not only wanted to put our university on the map – I wanted to put HBCUs on the map,” Reed said. We have such a special community that a lot of people overlook. We have a community that’s not built on wins and losses, but built on family and love.”