By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
The No. 16-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson University defeated the No. 1-seeded Purdue Boilermakers on Friday night. The Knights won 63-58 over the Boilermakers at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
This was a huge win for the program. It is just the second time in NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament history that a No. 16-seed upset a No. 1 seed.
The No. 16-seeded UMBC Retrievers were the first to do so when they upset the No. 1-seeded Virginia Cavaliers. The Retrievers celebrated their five-year anniversary of their 74-54 win over the Cavaliers on March 16th, 2018.
The Knights will play the Florida Atlantic Owls on Sunday in the second round of the tournament. FDU advanced to the second round of the tournament for the first time in program history.
This was the first time that FDU and Purdue played each other in men’s basketball.
There were 14 lead changes in the contest. The score was tied 3 times.
The Knights had 24 points in the paint. This was especially good since the Boilermakers have a 7-foot-4 center named Zach Edey, who may be drafted in the 2023 NBA Draft.
There is no clear-cut favorite projection for the Big Ten Player of the Year, who is projected to go all over the draft. Some projections say first round, others say second round. Some even say undrafted.
Sean Moore led the Knights with 19 points. He also had five rebounds, two blocks, and one steal.
Moore was one of three players, who scored in double digits. Demetre Roberts added 12 and Cameron Tweedy had 10.
The Knights had 16 bench points. Two players contributed to those 16 points.
Tweedy led the bench with the aforementioned 10 points.
Edey led the Boilermakers with 21 points. He also had 15 rebounds and three blocks.
He was one of three players that scored in double features. Fellow starters Fletcher Loyer had 13 and Mason Gillis contributed 10 points.
Purdue had just five bench points. Caleb First led the bench with four points.