Fairleigh Dickinson turned the second No. 16 seed in historical past to win an NCAA Event sport, beautiful top-seeded Purdue 63-58 behind 19 factors from Sean Moore and a relentless, hustling protection on Friday evening.
The shortest crew within the tourney, the Knights (21-15) confirmed no concern in swarming 7-foot-4 All-America middle Zach Edey from the beginning. FDU’s gamers have been faster and extra composed than the Huge Ten champion Boilermakers (29-6).
5 years in the past, UMBC confirmed the way in which for the little guys by overwhelming Virginia within the first 16-over-1 victory after quite a few shut calls through the years. Nonetheless, No. 16s had a 1-150 report earlier than FDU’s shocker.
Dylan Buell / Getty Photographs
Fairleigh Dickinson did not even win the Northeast Convention Event, falling by one level within the title sport to Merrimack, which could not take part within the NCAA Event due to an NCAA rule that bars it from the postseason as a result of it is nonetheless finishing its four-year transition from Division II.
“The extra I watch Purdue, the extra I feel we are able to beat them,” Fairleigh Dickinson head coach Tobin Anderson advised his crew on Wednesday evening after defeating Texas Southern 84-61 within the First 4 to earn the matchup with Purdue.
FDU held Purdue scoreless for greater than 5 1/2 minutes down the stretch and moved forward by 5 on a 3-pointer by Moore with 1:03 left. The Knights held on from there, changing into the second straight double-digit seed to ship the Boilermakers dwelling. Purdue was a 3 seed when it misplaced to fifteen seed Saint Peter’s within the Candy 16 final yr.
ESPN additionally famous that the Fairleigh Dickinson win meant that of the roughly 20 million brackets stuffed out for its annual Event Problem, zero excellent brackets remained in play.
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