For the second time ever, a No. 16 seed has knocked off a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Fairleigh Dickinson upset Big Ten regular-season and tournament champion Purdue at Nationwide Arena in Columbus in an opening-round stunner on Friday night. Led by Reynoldsburg, Ohio, native Sean Moore, who scored a team-high 19 points, the Knights shocked the Boilermakers in a 63-58 win to advance to the second round.
This interview with Tobin Anderson is everything @FDUKnightsMBB
— CBS Sports College Basketball (@CBSSportsCBB) March 18, 2023
"That's unbelievable. We just shocked the world!" pic.twitter.com/9B7sUPzdbH
Big Ten Player of the Year Zach Edey scored 21 points and pulled down 15 boards, but it wasn't enough to escape the first round as the Boilermakers missed 21 of their 26 3-point attempts on the night.
According to KenPom, 7-foot-4 Edey and the Boilermakers were No. 1 in Division I college basketball in effective height rank, while Fairleigh Dickinson ranked dead last in the country in that statistic.
From FOX Sports Research: Purdue was 1st in KenPom in effective height rank.
— John Fanta (@John_Fanta) March 18, 2023
FDU was 363rd out of 363 Division I teams.
Purdue has now lost to double-digit seeds in the NCAA Tournament in each of the past three seasons despite entering the Big Dance as a fourth seed or higher in all three years.
UNREAL #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/ZgDuSZnm5o
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 18, 202
The Boilermakers effectively ended Ohio State's season in the semifinal round of the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago last weekend, when the 13th-seeded Buckeyes came up short in an 80-66 loss against top-seeded Purdue.
