USC women’s basketball team leads nation in attendance for first time
The South Carolina women’s basketball team led the nation in home attendance for the first time with 12,293 fans per game.
It snapped a streak of 11 straight seasons where the University of Tennessee had led the nation in attendance. Tennessee was second in the nation at 10,375.
This is the first time that a school other than Tennessee or the University of Connecticut has led the nation in attendance since 1994 (Ohio State University).
South Carolina’s attendance in 2014‐15 jumped nearly 6,000 fans per game from its 2013‐14 total, going from 6,371 to more than 12,000 fans per game.
This is the second straight year that South Carolina has led the nation in most improved attendance, having increased 2,419 fans per game during the 2013‐14 season.
Syracuse is the attendance leader in men’s basketball, edging Kentucky for the second straight year.
The NCAA said Monday that Syracuse averaged 23,854 fans per game last season, just ahead of Kentucky’s 23,572. Louisville, at 21,386, was the only other school to draw better than 20,000 a game.
The USC men were No. 33 in the country with 11,520 fans per game.
The Big Ten led the nation in average attendance for the 39th straight year. The Big Ten’s average of 12,781 fans was well ahead of the Atlantic Coast Conference average of 11,368.
TOP 10
School, Games, Attendance, Average
1. South Carolina 16 196,684 12,293
2. Tennessee 18 186,754 10,375
3. Louisville 17 161,754 9,515
4. Iowa St. 17 157,916 9,289
5. Notre Dame 20 170,882 8,544
6. UConn 15 123,247 8,216
7. Kentucky 17 108,436 6,379
8. Baylor 19 120,484 6,341
9. Purdue 16 100,458 6,279
10. Michigan St. 16 97,906 6,119
This story was originally published July 6, 2015 at 2:30 PM.