Kansas and Oklahoma's highly-anticipated Big 12 matchup delivered big time on the court and in the ratings. The Jayhawks moved to 2-0 in conference play on Monday night with a heart-pounding 109-106 triple-overtime victory that many are calling the best college basketball game in years. The three-hour-long affair saw both teams lead by double digits before trading blows in the final 10 minutes of regulation and throughout the three five-minute overtime periods.
As a result, fans across the nation, even those who do not typically drool over college basketball, were glued to their televisions late into the evening. The game delivered a 1.9 overnight rating, making it the highest-rated Big Monday Big 12 game on ESPN (records date to 2002). It was also the network's second-highest-rated Monday night men's college basketball game ever, only trailing Pittsburgh and Connecticut's 2.0 rating from Feb. 16, 2009.
Additionally, it was the most viewed men's college basketball game ever on WatchESPN in both total minutes views (11.6 million) and unique visitors (295,000), and the second highest in average minute audience (66,000) behind Duke and Kentucky's Champions Classic game from Nov. 17, 2015.
And, unsurprisingly, the Kansas City market dominated the numbers with a 16.8 overnight rating. Oklahoma City was second (10.7) and closely followed by Tulsa (8.6).
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