UMBC’s company.
Fairleigh Dickinson joined the Retrievers in NCAA tournament lore and became just the second No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 seed in the first round when they beat Purdue 63-58 on Friday night.
The Knights easily outplayed Purdue in the second half as no one was able to do anything for Purdue other than Zach Eddy. And even Ade had two crucial turnovers in the final three minutes.
Sean Moore scored key points for FDU with a three from the top of the key, a 7–4 ED with 1:03 to close. This gave the Knights a 61–56 lead and was Moore’s ninth consecutive point for FDU.
Purdue then had the ball on three down with 30 seconds left, but Moore blocked a layup attempt and Fletcher Lauer’s 3-point attempt with 10 seconds left did not hit the rim.
UMBC — University of Maryland-Baltimore County — became the first No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 in 2018 when it beat Virginia. And FDU’s crisis may be even bigger than UMBC’s. The Retrievers were a 20.5-point underdog before the game against Virginia and FDU was a 23.5-point underdog against the Boilermakers.
It was the second consecutive tournament loss for Purdue against a low-seeded team from New Jersey. The Boilermakers finished as the No. 3 seed the year before, losing in the Sweet 16 to No. 15 seed St. Peter’s.