{"id":2021,"date":"2023-03-21T13:30:32","date_gmt":"2023-03-21T17:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/?p=2021"},"modified":"2023-03-21T13:30:32","modified_gmt":"2023-03-21T17:30:32","slug":"michigan-state-basketball-marquette-most-watched-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/?p=2021","title":{"rendered":"Michigan State basketball vs. Marquette was most-watched first-weekend game"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday evening’s Marquette vs. Michigan State basketball game was the most-watched of the NCAA Tournament’s opening weekend.<\/h2>\n

Sunday night’s Marquette vs. Michigan State basketball<\/a> had a legit Final Four feel to it.<\/p>\n

The Spartans, a 7-seed, and 2-seeded Marquette battled it out down to the wire and Michigan State picked up a nine-point win to move on to the Sweet 16 for the second time in the past four tournaments.<\/p>\n

There’s a reason Tom Izzo is called Mr. March and he proved he’s deserving of that nickname over the first weekend and millions of people tuned in to see him in action.<\/p>\n

Actually, Michigan State had the most-watched first-weekend game against the Golden Eagles, according to Kevin Pauga. Even further, our own ‘Great Lakes Fungi’ (expect analytical articles coming from them soon) compared the 10.9 million viewers from MSU’s second-round game to some previous Final Four matchups and you’d be surprised at which games the Spartans drew a bigger audience than.<\/p>\n

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For comparison, that's better than the 2021 (BAY v HOU), 2016 (NOVA v OU), and 2003 KU v MARQ) early Final Four games.<\/p>\n

(FWIW my data only stretches back to around 2003 for the non- championship games.) pic.twitter.com\/aH20dVFVGm<\/a><\/p>\n

— Great Lakes Fungi ? (@GreatLakesFungi) March 21, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n