FDU eager for opportunity against Zach Edey, Purdue in NCAA tournament

DAYTON, Ohio – Ansley Almonor is considered FDU’s center.

He’s nearly 10 inches shorter than Purdue’s Zach Edey.

Curiosity and intrigue were already settling in moments after the Knights knocked out Texas Southern 84-61 in a battle of No. 16 seeds to see who will face the top-seeded and third-ranked Boilermakers in Friday’s first round (6:50 p.m., TNT) of the NCAA tournament in Columbus, Ohio.

FDU is the shortest team in Division I and has the daunting task of dealing with one of the nation’s tallest and most talented players. And as everyone knows, Edey is the odds-on favorite to win National Player of the Year honors.

“I want Purdue to see this. The more I watch Purdue, the more I think we can beat them”

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— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) March 16, 2023

“I’m not going to realize that until I actually get in the game and really see him,” said the 6-foot-6 Almonor, who totaled 23 points and eight rebounds. “I’ve never seen anybody that tall in person. When I get to the game, I’m going to see – ‘Oh, yeah; this guy is really that tall.’ ”

The tallest player Almonor has faced prior to Edey? Richmond’s Neal Quinn, who is listed at 7-0.

“And he was really tall,” he said.

Almonor won’t see Edey eye-to-eye but is eager to see how he stacks up against the 7-foot-4 junior.

“He’s supposed to be the National Player of the Year,” he said. “This is a platform for me to go show I belong in the conversation. I’ve been dreaming of a situation like this, and now I get to go out and play him.”

‘WE’LL FIGURE SOMETHING OUT’

The Knights, who led from the opening tip Wednesday night at UD Arena, have less than two days to craft a plan to deal with Edey and the Boilermakers. They can’t simulate Edey’s size other than with brooms or stacking guards Demetre Roberts and Grant Singleton on each other’s shoulders.

“We’ve got less than 48 hours to figure out how we’re going to do that,” said Roberts, who had 15 points in the win. “Overall, we’ve got to play our game. Don’t put too much pressure on ourselves and go out there and play. We’ll figure something out.”

It’s been a season of FDU figuring everything out.

First-year coach Tobin Anderson inherited a team that posted a 4-22 record last season and now has 20 victories heading into Friday’s game. Although the Knights lost in the Northeast Conference title game, they earned the automatic bid since Merrimack is ineligible for the NCAA Tournament due to a four-year transition to Division I.

Anderson came to FDU from St. Thomas Aquinas, a Division II program where he posted a 209-62 record in nine seasons. Along with winning four games last season, he had five returning scholarship players and none of them were starters.

Three players from his former school – Roberts, Singleton, and Columbus native Sean Moore – joined Anderson at FDU in an attempt to instill a winning culture from the beginning.

“They’re used to playing – not on this stage, but they’re used to playing NCAA games, Sweet 16 games,” Anderson said. “I didn’t think they’d be fazed, and we weren’t.”

‘OUR GUYS WILL COMPETE’

What the Knights lack in size, they counter with speed, quickness, and the ability to spread the floor and either attack the basket or launch 3-pointers. They were 11 of 27 from beyond the arc, including five from Almonor, who will try and pull Edey away from the basket.

Roberts is a tough-minded point guard who is determined to reach the paint and cause problems for opposing defenses. All five starters attempted at least one 3-pointer on Wednesday, but the main threats are Roberts, Singleton, and Almonor.

Despite giving up 46 points in the paint to Texas Southern, the Knights weren’t in danger of losing Wednesday’s game.

“Yeah, it’s hard to put into words,” Anderson said. “It really is. I told the guys there’s not a postgame speech, not something I could say. It’s just been an unbelievable ride. We would never have dreamed this 10 months ago.”

FDU would like to dream again Friday by knocking off the Boilermakers in a 1 vs. 16 matchup. It happened one other time in NCAA tournament men’s basketball history when top-seeded Virginia lost to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).

Anderson runs a motion offense and “a lot of the stuff we get is from Purdue and how they play.”

The Knights also press 94 feet from start to finish and will try to expose an area Purdue has struggled with this season.

“It’s going to be a tall task for us, but our guys will compete,” Anderson said. “We’re going to do what we do. We’re going to go press them. We’re going to guard the heck out of them if we can. Be hard to guard – (Edey’s) got to guard Ansley, who can shoot a little bit, and try to create problems for them.

“But they’re a special team, great coach, unbelievable program, tremendous respect for them. Love watching them play, but we’re going to go try to … let’s play on Friday night.”