The eyes of the college basketball world were fixated on Baton Rouge this past weekend. The 6th-ranked Tigers hosted the 3rd-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks in an SEC matchup that drew the attention of millions of fans across the country.
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The primetime matchup between the top-10 rivals was a ratings hit in more ways than one.
LSU-South Carolina matchup sets viewership records
According to ESPN, Saturday night's contest between LSU and South Carolina averaged 1.7 million viewers and peaked at 2.2 million viewers. It was the most-watched women's college basketball game of the season, and the 4th most-watched women's regular season game on record.
Last Saturday night, @GamecockWBB vs @LSUwbkb showed out on ABC
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) February 18, 2026
🏀 1.7M avg. viewers
🏀 4th most-watched ESPN #NCAAWBB regular season game on record
🏀 Peak: 2.2M viewers pic.twitter.com/TNGAx7q2Ej
ESPN's College GameDay was on site in Baton Rouge leading up to the highly-anticipated contest, and it enjoyed a record-setting day as well. According to ESPN, last Saturday's special edition of College GameDay at LSU averaged 1.2 million viewers to become the most-watched episode of women's GameDay on record.
The ratings win continued an impressive stretch for women's college basketball. Following LSU-South Carolina, a total of four women's college basketball games have averaged more than 1 million viewers over the last three weeks.
Unfortunately for LSU, Kim Mulkey's squad wasn't able to secure a victory against Dawn Staley's Gamecocks. South Carolina walked away with a 79-72 win to hand LSU its fourth loss of the season.
The win continued South Carolina's recent dominance over LSU, as the Gamecocks have now won 18 consecutive games over the Tigers. Furthermore, Staley continues to have the upper hand over Mulkey in head-to-head matchups. Mulkey is now just 2-7 in nine matchups against Staley's Gamecocks, which includes an 0-6 mark at the helm of the LSU program.
Mulkey and the Tigers have a chance to get back into the win column against No. 17 Ole Miss on Thursday. The Tigers then host Missouri on February 22 and Tennessee on February 26 before facing Mississippi State in Starkville in the regular season finale on March 1.