Sunday's Iowa-Ohio State game most-watched regular season women's basketball game since 2010
The Ohio State women’s basketball team pulled off a surprising upset over Caitlin Clark and Iowa on Sunday, pulling away for a 100-92 overtime victory.
A record-setting number of viewers tuned into the game to see Iowa suffer its second loss of the season.
NBC announced on Tuesday that Sunday’s matchup was the most-watched regular season women’s basketball game since 2010.
An average of 1.93 million viewers tuned in to the game, which was shown on NBC and Peacock, according to NBC. Of those viewers, 1.86 million watched on NBC stations.
NBC also shared that the game peaked at 3.9 million viewers in overtime as Ohio State pulled away for the win.
Caitlin Clark had an impressive outing against the Buckeyes, scoring 45 points, with three rebounds and seven assists. But it wasn’t enough as the Buckeyes played well down the stretch and earned the win.
Iowa fell to 18-2 (7-1) with the loss, while Ohio State improved to 15-3 (6-1) with the victory. The Buckeyes were led by Cotie McMahon, who finished with an impressive 33 points and 12 rebounds. Jacy Sheldon added 24 points, seven rebounds and three assists, while playing all 45 minutes of the contest.
Up next, Iowa will host Nebraska on Saturday at 2 p.m. Ohio State is set to play at Illinois on Thursday at 7 p.m. as the Buckeyes continue regular season play.
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Lisa Bluder on Caitlin Clark collision during Ohio State court storming: ‘That’s wrong’
Ohio State’s upset win had a little bit of controversy postgame.
After No. 2 Iowa fell to Ohio State on the road, superstar Caitlin Clark tried to escape the inevitable storm of students flooding the floor. Unfortunately, she wasn’t successful. As Clark jogged toward the tunnel, she collided with an unaware fan and spiraled to the ground.
While Clark was able to get to her feet, it understandably was a concerning situation. Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder didn’t hesitate to defend Clark during the postgame press conference.
“It’s unfortunate the game ended that way and Caitlin gets taken out on the floor,” Bluder said. “Had some inappropriate words yelled at her by fans, by students. That just should not happen. Our players should be safe, they should be able to walk off the floor.
“That’s very disappointing. I think Ohio State is a great team, great environment. But obviously, very disappointed with the postgame, with our players getting injured trying to walk out of the gym. That’s wrong.”