Ratings: College Hoops, NHL on NBC, Blackhawks

Last Sunday’s Northwestern-Indiana college basketball game had a 1.9 rating and 2.9 million viewers on CBS, the second-highest rated and third-most watched game of the season. CBS has aired two of the season’s top games in consecutive weeks, with Michigan State-Ohio State the previous Sunday holding top honors (2.1, 3.3M). Both games had a direct lead-in from the NFL playoffs.

In other action, Michigan-Michigan State drew a 1.1 and 1.6 million on FOX Saturday — up 120% in ratings and 111% in viewership from UConn-Georgetown last year (0.5, 764K). It easily topped Florida-Mississippi on CBS (0.7, 964K) and Kansas State-Kansas on ESPN (0.8, 1.2M) head-to-head.

Shifting to ESPN, Kansas-West Virginia scored 1.5 million on Big Monday — up 27% from last year (Kansas-ISU: 1.2M) but down 9% from 2016 (Oklahoma-ISU: 1.6M). Duke-Miami had 1.3 million earlier in the night (+5%). On Super Tuesday, Kentucky-South Carolina had 1.2 million (+1%) and Wisconsin-Purdue 727,000 (-44%).

Blackhawks-Red Wings had a mere 0.5 rating and 763,000 viewers on the NHL on NBC last Sunday, down 38% in ratings and 36% in viewership from Flyers-Capitals last year (0.8, 1.2M). The game aired directly opposite NFL playoff action, while last year’s telecast faced no such competition.

Later in the night, Rangers-Penguins had a 0.26 (+24%) and 494,000 (+12%) on NBCSN. Last year’s comparable game faced the NFL playoffs. NBCSN’s first two Sunday night games this season have increased double-digits (Bruins-Penguins the previous week increased 86% to 533,000).

On Wednesday night, Canadiens-Bruins had 454,000 on NBCSN — up 2% from Bruins-Red Wings last year (447K) and up 10% from Blues-Red Wings in 2016 (411K). It snapped a six-week streak of declines for Wednesday Night Rivalry. The Penguins-Ducks nightcap had 192,000 (+3%).

NBC Sports Chicago has averaged a 2.92 rating for Blackhawks games so far this season, down 7% from the same mid-January point last season (3.15). Chicago finished with a 3.35 average last season, its lowest on local TV since 2011-12.

Despite the decline, the Blackhawks are outperforming the moribund Bulls by 44% (2.03). That gap has actually narrowed from 69% at the end of last season (3.35 to 1.98).