16th Seed Fairleigh Dickinson Shocks Purdue in NCAA Tournament

Fairleigh Dickinson became only the second No. 16 seed in history to win a game in the NCAA Tournament, dominating No. 1 seed Purdue 63-58 by 19 points behind Sean Moore and defending relentlessly on Friday night. I was.

The shortest team in the tournament, the Knights (21-15), dominated 7-foot-4-foot All-America center Zach Eady from the start. FDU’s players were faster and more composed than Big 10 champion Boilermakers (29-6).

Five years ago, UMBC showed the way for its smaller players by dominating Virginia in its first 16-1 victory after many close matches over the years. Still, the No. 16 had a 1-150 record ahead of FDU’s shocker.

Fairleigh Dickinson didn’t even win the Northeast Conference Tournament, trailing Merrimack by one point in the title fight.The year transition from Division II.

Farley Dickinson head coach Tobin Anderson told the team Wednesday night after winning a matchup against Purdue with an 84-61 First Four victory over Texas Southern.

FDU held Purdue scoreless for over five-and-a-half minutes, trailing by five on Moore’s three-pointer with 1:03 remaining. The Knights held on from there to become his second consecutive double-digit seed to send home the Boilermakers. Purdue was the 3rd seed when he lost to 15th-seeded St. He Peters in last year’s Sweet 16.

ESPN also noted Fairleigh Dickinson’s victory. in short Of the nearly 20 million brackets filled out in the annual tournament challenge, there were zero full brackets.