Ratings: NHL, NBA, College Hoops, Torrey Pines

Entering the All-Star break, NHL regular season games have averaged 377,000 viewers across NBC and NBCSN — down 3% from last year (388K). The three games on NBC have jumped 26% to 1.85 million, but that has been outweighed by an 8% decline for the 53 games on NBCSN (284K). All figures include streaming.

Keep in mind that NBCSN has aired significantly more games involving Canadian and small-market teams this season.

Warriors-Wizards scored 1.71 million viewers on the NBA on TNT Thursday night, up 4% from last year (Wizards-Thunder: 1.64M) and up 31% from 2017 (Mavericks-Thunder: 1.30M). Versus T’Wolves-Warriors on the comparable night last year, which aired in a later timeslot, viewership fell 4% from 1.79 million.

Later in the night, T’Wolves-Lakers had 1.62 million — down 10% from the aforementioned T’Wolves-Warriors game last year, but up 56% from Lakers-Jazz in 2017 (1.04M). It was the Lakers’ seventh-straight game on ESPN, ABC or TNT in which LeBron James did not play.

On ESPN Wednesday night, Spurs-Sixers had a 0.9 (+6%) and 1.46 million (+14%) and Nuggets-Jazz a 0.8 (-11%) and 1.23 million (-2%). Figures for Friday’s Raptors-Rockets game were not immediately available.

Thursday’s Michigan State-Iowa men’s college basketball game scored 683,000 viewers on FS1, a record for a regular season game on the network. It was easily the top college basketball game on a light night, cruising past the Notre Dame-Tennessee women’s game on ESPN (368K) and the Washington-Oregon men’s game on ESPN2 (310K).

Thursday’s first round of the PGA Tour at Torrey Pines had 546,000 viewers on Golf Channel, down 19% from last year (672K), down 30% from 2017 (782K), and the tournament’s smallest opening round audience in three years (2016: 341K). Tiger Woods finished the first round in a tie for 53rd.