Matt Buckler: UConn women top TV ratings chart

Mar. 30—The UConn women's team not only defeated North Carolina State Monday night, it took care of another formidable opponent — Tucker Carlson.

In information provided by Showbuzz, UConn lit up the ratings chart Monday, racking up an audience of 2.037 million viewers for its double overtime win against the Wolfpack. It was the largest audience for a women's game this year and the first to rise over the 2 million viewer mark.

It also finished fourth in the overall cable standings in the key audience demographic of adults 18-49.

The only cable show to top UConn Monday was WWE Wrestling on USA. Those wrestling numbers, however, are a little deceiving. The WWE is actually one show, broken up into three one-hour segments. If you average the three wrestling shows together, UConn moves up to No. 2.

Finishing right behind the UConn game was Monday's other regional final, Louisville vs. Michigan, which racked up 1.607 million viewers from 9:45 p.m., when ESPN joined the game following UConn coverage, until 11:15 p.m.

Bravo's "Below Deck" was sixth, followed by "The Five" on Fox News Channel. Then Tucker Carlson checked in on Fox News Channel to finish eighth.

Although Carlson had more viewers than the UConn game — 3.73 million — it did not do as well in the important adult 18-49 group.

That wasn't the only ratings highlight for the UConn women. Its Sweet 16 game against Indiana grabbed 1.437 million viewers, the highest audience for any of the eight regional semifinal games televised by ESPN and ESPN2.

UConn did have an advantage — it did not compete against any men's tournament games on Saturday or Monday. The ratings, however, are still impressive — the combination of Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd has a national following.

Throw in the 1.4 million that tuned into the UConn-UCF game on March 21 and UConn had three of the top five-rated games.

There should be two great audiences for the national semifinal games Friday — Louisville-South Carolina at 7 p.m. and UConn-Stanford at 9:30.

There is no men's tournament competition, which should help the numbers. These two games would attract a big audience regardless of the competition. Perhaps Tucker Carlson will go down again.

As far as Monday's post-game coverage is concerned, Bob Joyce and Debbie Fiske of WUCS-FM97.9 deserved credit for waiting until the post-game ceremony was over so it could talk to a UConn player.

It turned out to be worth the wait for UConn listeners because the choice, Fudd, was very insightful about the Huskies' victory.

Joyce and Fiske, by going the extra mile, were able to put a great closing on what was a memorable game.

And here's the best part about the UConn-North Carolina State game: It gave people in the state something to talk about besides the Academy Awards.

Oscar aftermath

The news cycle is working overtime following the facial that Will Smith landed on Chris Rock at the Academy Awards. It's been more than 48 hours and the story is still dominating the entertainment websites.

Smith is not coming out of this looking good — most entertainers, especially comedians, have been blaming Smith for the fracas.

Bill Maher, for example, said Rock was the hero of the night the way he professionally continued the show instead of getting into a shouting match with Smith.

It's an amazing story — the man who put the Oscars at risk with a questionable joke is being credited for saving them.

They should make a biopic about this incident — it would win an Oscar for best movie based on an ugly incident.

Follow Matt Buckler for more television, radio, and sports coverage on the JI's Twitter @journalinquirer, and see his articles on the Journal Inquirer Facebook page.