Fairleigh Dickinson Shocks the World, takes out #1 purdue
Michael Conroy / AP
COLUMBUS, Ohio (PSF) - In what just might be the biggest college basketball upset of all-time, the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights defeated the Purdue Boilermakers on Friday, 63-58. In only the second 16 seed over one seed upset ever, Fairleigh Dickinson’s win was remarkable for so many reasons.
Fairleigh Dickinson was never even supposed to be here. The Knights finished with four wins last season in the Northeast Conference. They needed to make a change and fired their head coach. This year, they turned things around quickly and received the two seed in their conference tournament.
To make the NCAA Tournament, they would need to win their conference tournament to receive the automatic bid, except they didn’t. The Merrimack Warriors beat them in the championship, but as a transitional team from Division II, Merrimack was ineligible for the NCAA Tournament, giving the automatic bid to Fairleigh Dickinson.
Speaking of Division II, that’s where first-year head coach Tobin Anderson came from, where he previously coached St. Thomas Aquinas. Because he was hired late in the coaching cycle, he struggled to get transfers and players for the team, so he brought some of his players from St. Thomas Aquinas, including three starters instrumental in their historic upset victory: Demetre Roberts, Sean Moore, and Grant Singleton.
But before they could even play Purdue, they had to beat Texas Southern in a play-in game. Fairleigh Dickinson wasn’t even favored to win that game, but they blew out Texas Southern 84-61.
Another unbelievable part of this upset is that Fairleigh Dickinson is the shortest team in all of Division I. Purdue’s 7’4 Zach Edey was sure to be a problem, along with Purdue’s overall size as one the taller teams in Division I. But the Knights did a great job of limiting Edey by sending multiple guys at him. He only took 11 shots and didn’t have a single attempt over the last nine minutes of the game.
As 23.5-point underdogs, Fairleigh Dickinson not only hung in the game, but they were the better team, outplaying Purdue for all 40 minutes. They controlled the tempo and physicality of the game. The belief had to be there for Fairleigh Dickinson, and it started when coach Anderson called out Purdue in the locker room after their win over Texas Southern.
The game was very close throughout. Both Purdue and Fairleigh Dickinson each had their largest lead at only six points. A big issue for Purdue was their three-point shooting. All the attention was going to Edey, so they got plenty of open looks, but they shot only 5-26 from three, or 19 percent. Down three with 12 seconds remaining, Purdue needed a three. Fairleigh Dickinson’s defense was good enough to force a tough shot and a miss, and two made free throws would put the game away.
Zach Edey had another great performance in the season-ending loss, finishing with 21 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks. Freshman Fletcher Loyer added 13 points and two rebounds. Mason Gillis contributed 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
In the monumental upset, Sean Moore led Fairleigh Dickinson with 19 points and also had five rebounds. Demetre Roberts had 12 points and four assists and rebounds each. Cameron Tweedy was also key for the Knights with 10 points and six rebounds off the bench.
After UMBC beat Virginia in 2018, another 16 over one seed upset would certainly be unlikely for many years to come. Now just five years later, UMBC has some company in the history books, and it’s the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights.
