No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson shocks No. 1 Purdue

UMBC has corporation.

Fairleigh Dickinson joined the Retrievers in NCAA tournament lore and became the second No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 in the initial round when it took down Purdue 63-58 Friday evening.

The Knights basically outplayed Purdue in the second half as no a single other than Zach Edey was in a position to do significantly of something for Purdue. And even Edey had two crucial turnovers in the final 3 minutes.

Sean Moore scored the critical points for FDU with a three-pointer from the best of the crucial with 1:03 to go as the 7-foot-four Edey closed in on him. That gave the Knights a 61-56 lead and was Moore’s ninth consecutive point for FDU.

Purdue then had the ball with 30 seconds left down 3 but Moore blocked a layup try and a Fletcher Loyer three-point try with beneath ten seconds left did not hit the rim.

UMBC — the University of Maryland-Baltimore County — became the initial No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 in 2018 when it defeated Virginia. And FDU’s upset may possibly be even larger than UMBC’s. The Retrievers have been a 20.five-point underdog ahead of the game against Virginia and FDU was a 23.five-point underdog against the Boilermakers.

It is also the second straight tournament loss for Purdue against a low-seeded group from New Jersey. The Boilermakers lost to No. 15 seed St. Peter’s in the Sweet 16 as a No. three seed a year ago. And the year prior to that, Purdue lost 78-69 to No. 13 North Texas as a No. four seed. The Boilermakers have lost their final 3 tournament games to low-seeded teams given that creating the Elite Eight in 2019.

FDU controlled the final eight minutes

UMBC blew out Virginia, 74-54, in its historic upset. This game was clearly not a blowout. But it was also clear that a single of the shortest teams in the nation wasn’t overmatched against the group with the ideal massive man in the nation.

Edey stands ten inches taller than the tallest player in FDU’s beginning lineup, And Purdue out-rebounded the Knights by ten. But it was clear to any person watching the game that FDU wasn’t afraid to battle inside with the Boilermakers and it was unafraid to attempt to rip the ball from Edey’s hands.

Story continues

Edey inexplicably had just a single shot try in the final ten minutes of the game. He completed the game 7 of 11 from the field with 21 points and 15 rebounds. Everybody else on the Purdue roster shot a combined 12 of 41 as the Boilermakers completed just 36% from the field as a group.

Purdue had a really hard time creating a three-pointer as well. Reduced was three of eight from behind the arc when the rest of the group was two of 18.

The Boilermakers even led by six with 11:41 to go. But FDU went on an eight- run to take a two-point lead with 9:59 left and Purdue by no means led more than the final eight minutes of the game.

Did Tobin Anderson contact his shot?

In addition to becoming the second No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1, FDU also became the initial group to beat a No. 1 following playing in a play-in game earlier in the week. The Knights quickly beat Texas Southern for the appropriate to play Purdue and coach Tobin Anderson exuded self-confidence following that game.

Anderson told his group following the win that the much more he watched Purdue, the much more he felt his group could win. He mentioned following the Purdue win that he wasn’t intending his speech to go to a larger audience than his group, but his group played with the self-confidence that he showed following that win Tuesday evening.

FDU didn’t even win its conference tournament

Most teams in Fairleigh Dickinson’s circumstance have to win their conference tournaments to get into the NCAA tournament. However FDU got a matchup against Texas Southern in the play-in game basically by creating its conference tournament title game.

FDU lost 67-66 to Merrimack in the Northeast Conference title game on March 7. But the Knights entered that game figuring out they have been in the NCAA tournament thanks to NCAA guidelines. Merrimack is in its fourth year at the best level of college basketball following moving up from Division II. And the NCAA’s outdated guidelines stop a group moving up from qualifying for the NCAA tournament for 4 seasons. Considering that Merrimack was ineligible to make the tournament, FDU was the recipient of the NEC’s only bid.

Conference tournament title or not, the turnaround FDU has created from 2021-22 to this season has been outstanding. The Knights have been just four-22 a season ago and parted techniques with longtime coach Greg Herenda. The college hired Anderson from Division II St. Thomas Aquinas and the Knights went 20-15 in the common season.

Anderson brought quite a few transfers with him, as well, and they have been the distinction against Purdue. Moore, Demetre Roberts and Grant Singleton played for Anderson at Aquinas and moved with him to FDU. Moore had 12 points and 5 rebounds when Roberts hit two free of charge throws following Loyer’s miss to ice the game.