16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson stuns Purdue in mammoth upset

Move aside UMBC, you’ve got company. With a stunning 63-58 upset of No. 1 Purdue, Fairleigh Dickinson became just the second No. 16 seed to pull out a win in the NCAA Tournament.

It was an upset of historic proportions.

For one, it’s believed to be the biggest point spread upset in the history of the NCAA Tournament, as Fairleigh Dickinson was a 23-point dog. That tops the previous biggest upset, which was Norfolk State beating Missouri as a 21.5-point underdog in 2012.

The 16-over-1 upset comes five years and one day after UMBC stunned top-seeded Virginia.

Previously 16 seeds were 1-150 lifetime against No. 1 seeds.

The shocking upset was also the first-ever win for the Northeast Conference in the NCAA Tournament, with an 0-31 mark before that. It was also Fairleigh Dickinson’s first-ever win in the tournament, with an 0-5 record previously.

It came in the most unlikely of fashions, with a matchup that was wildly unfair in the post for Fairleigh Dickinson. Purdue big man Zach Edey did everything he could while facing constant double-teams from smaller men in the post.

In fact, Purdue was the team with the highest effective height in the country on KenPom.com, while Fairleigh Dickinson was last — literally dead last — at No 363 nationally.

Edey finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds in the game, constantly keeping possessions alive by tipping balls out to his teammates. Fairleigh Dickinson made life tough on him with a constant rotation of back-side defenders that were able to jar balls loose and just generally make Edey uncomfortable.

Fairleigh Dickinson made no bones about it before the game, either, with coach Tobin Anderson saying his team could beat Purdue just moments after winning a play-in game against Texas Southern on Wednesday night.

“I just trust our guys. I have faith in our guys,” Anderson said after the big win. “That speech got overblown. We just have faith in what we do and our guys are so tough and so competitive.

“It was the right message.”

Somehow the Knights found a way to respond seemingly every time the Boilermakers had re-established control.

It was a well-rounded approach to scoring by Fairleigh Dickinson, as no one player took charge and simply took over, at least until late. Three players finished in double-figures scoring for the Knights.

But it was Sean Moore who will go down as the hero. He finished with 19 points in the game for the Knights and it was his 3-pointer that went down with 1:04 to play that stretched Fairleigh Dickinson’s lead to five points at 61-56 that really changed the complexion of the game down the stretch.

Now Fairleigh Dickinson players will get a night to celebrate a truly historic win before getting back to business.

“I love our guys. They’re tough. They’re gritty,” Anderson said. “They played their tails off. That’s an unbelievable win. We just did something that was; I mean that’s unbelievable. We just shocked the world and couldn’t happen to a better bunch of guys, better bunch of fans.

“We are ecstatic. Unbelievable. We get to stay in Columbus, I love it.”