Fairleigh Dickinson guard Grant Singleton, center, celebrates after a basket against Purdue in the second half of a first-round college basketball game in the Men’s NCAA Tournament in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday. FDU would take the win, upsetting top-seeded Purdue University.
Michael Conroy/AP
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Michael Conroy/AP
Fairleigh Dickinson guard Grant Singleton, center, celebrates after a basket against Purdue in the second half of a first-round college basketball game in the Men’s NCAA Tournament in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday. FDU would take the win, upsetting top-seeded Purdue University.
Michael Conroy/AP
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Fairleigh Dickinson became the second No. 16 seed in history to win an NCAA Tournament game, stunning top-seeded Purdue 63-58 behind 19 points from Sean Moore and a relentless, rushing defense on Friday night.
The shortest team in the tournament, the Knights (21-15) showed no fear in swarming 7-foot-4 All-America center Zach Edey from the start. FDU’s players were faster and more in control than the Big Ten champion Boilermakers (29-6).
Five years ago, UMBC led the way for the little guys by beating Virginia in its first 16-over-1 victory after countless close calls over the years. Still, No. 16s had a 1-150 record against No. 1s and were 1-151 overall ahead of FDU’s shocker.
After the final whistle, the FDU players squabbled on the floor of the Nationwide Arena, as the Memphis and Florida Atlantic fans joined forces to cheer on the Knights in the dying minutes.
Fairleigh Dickinson didn’t even win the Northeast Conference Tournament, falling behind Merrimack by one point in the title game, which was unable to participate in the NCAA Tournament due to an NCAA rule barring it from the postseason as it still lost its four- year transition from Division II.
FDU held Purdue scoreless for over 5 1/2 minutes and advanced five points on a three-pointer by Moore – who hails from suburban Columbus – with 1:03 left. The Knights held on from there, becoming the second double digit in a row to send the Boilermakers home. Purdue was a 3-seed when it lost to 15-seed Saint Peter’s, another New Jersey small school, in the Sweet 16 last year.
Edey finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds in what may have been his last college game, but the Knights consistently denied him the ball on the stretch. He made no attempt in the last nine minutes. The junior center is a possible NBA lottery pick, but the bitterness of this defeat could push him to stay for another year.
The Knights’ two previous NCAA Tournament wins were in the First Four, also this year, when they defeated Texas Southern 84-61. After that game, Knights coach Tobin Anderson told his players he thought they could handle Edey and Co.
“The more I see Purdue, the more I think we can beat them,” Anderson told his players in the locker room.
Some Purdue players said they felt disrespected by the comments, which turned out to be prophetic.
The Knights will now meet the Memphis-Florida Atlantic winner on Sunday for a Sweet 16 berth and travel to play next week at New York’s Madison Square Garden – just a short drive from the private school’s campus in Teaneck, New Jersey .