Ohio State-Illinois Big Ten Championship Is College Basketball's Most-Watched Game Of The Year

A lot of people tuned into Sunday's Big Ten championship game. More people, in fact, than for any other game in the past few months.

The Ohio State-Illinois showdown – which the Illini won, 91-88, in overtime – was the most watched college basketball game of the year. It earned 3.678 million viewers, per CBS, and it peaked at 5.783 viewers from 6 to 6:09 p.m. during overtime. Of course, that had less to do with the action at Lucas Oil Stadium and more to do with the fact that the Selection Sunday show was supposed to begin airing at 6 p.m.

Alas, this year's record has been set.

The top 6 most-watched college basketball games this season have aired on CBS, led by Sunday's Big Ten Championship Game pic.twitter.com/PyMg0p3NQR

— CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) March 16, 2021

CBS will broadcast Ohio State's first-round game on Friday with Ian Eagle, Jim Spanarkel and Jamie Erdahl on the call.