David beats Goliath: No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson shocks No. 1 Purdue in March Madness
The chants started with the fans in the Fairleigh Dickinson section. Then they spread to the blue-clad Memphis section, and even to the red-wearing Florida Atlantic sections or those dotted with colors other than black and gold.
The largest contingent of fans inside Nationwide Arena with a vested interest in the first game of Friday’s second session of NCAA Tournament games wanted no part of it. From the rafters to the lower bowl, in the corners and along the baseline, three letters reverberated inside the arena that remind us all of what the glory of March Madness can be.
“FDU! FDU!” they chanted, almost apologetically at first and joyously by the end. On a Friday night in Columbus, No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson did what just one team had done before in the history of the NCAA Tournament.
The Knights, who needed to beat Texas Southern in a play-in an hour and a half down the road in Dayton on Wednesday night, toppled No. 1 seed Purdue, 63-58, to cement their place in history as the second No. 16 seed to defeat a top seed.
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"If we played 100 times, they probably beat us 99 times," Knights coach Tobin Anderson said. "But tonight's the one we had to be unique, we had to be unorthodox. We had to make it tough on them, just be different."
In a matchup against a Purdue team anchored by 7-4, 305-pound Zach Edey, the nation’s shortest team allowed him to post yet another double-double. It was of little concern. Fairleigh Dickinson’s guards made life difficult for everyone else, forcing turnovers and daring the Boilermakers (29-6) to fire away from 3-point range.
It worked. Purdue put together a 10-0 run during the second half as Edey scored the first five points and assisted on a three-point play by Mason Gillis with 12:43 left, but after the lead got to 46-41 the Knights responded with an 8-0 run of their own to reclaim the lead.
Fairleigh Dickinson’s Joe Munden Jr. scored off a turnover with 8:19 left to give the Knights a 51-50 lead, and they would not trail again.
"Hard to put it in words right now," Anderson said. "Honestly, it's really hard to even -- it just happened, right?"
They would have to sweat out the final seconds, however. Ahead 61-58, Purdue got the ball after a replay review with 30 seconds to play, moved the ball across midcourt but called timeout when the play broke down with 18.9 seconds remaining.
The Boilermakers, 5 for 25 from 3-point range to this point, got the ball to Braden Smith in an effort to extend the game but his driving, left-handed layup attempt was blocked out of bounds by Reynoldsburg native Sean Moore with 12.3 seconds left. Fletcher Loyer, who beat Ohio State with a last-second 3-pointer in early January, airballed a contested 3-pointer from the left corner as Purdue's last gasp.
For Purdue, it marked the second straight year of taking an upset loss to a double-digit seed. In 2022, it was a Sweet 16 loss as a No. 3 seed to No. 15 seed St. Peter’s. For Fairleigh Dickinson (21-15), it was the unquestioned biggest win in program history and moved the Knights to 3-6 in NCAA Tournament history.
The Boilermakers had won both the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles. Edey finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds. Moore led the Knights with 19 points. Fairleigh Dickinson forced 16 Purdue turnovers and turned them into a 15-5 advantage in points off turnovers. Seven of those turnovers came from freshman Braden Smith, who also had six assists but went 2 for 10 from the floor and 1 for 6 from 3.
Purdue finished 5 for 26 (19.2%) from 3.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Down goes No. 1: Fairleigh Dickinson shocks Purdue in Columbus
