Fairleigh Dickinson pulled off the stunner of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, becoming the second 16-seed in history to defeat a 1-seed by beating Purdue, 63-58.
The Knights put together a remarkable performance that saw them essentially shut down everyone on Purdue except for Zach Edey. Their game plan even did well to deny Purdue’s star center any clean looks, particularly in the second half. Still, FDU needed everything to go its way, and that was not lost on head coach Tobin Anderson.
“If we played them 100 times they probably beat us 99 times…but tonight’s the 1,” Anderson said after the game. “We had to be unique, we had to be unorthodox, we had to make it tough on them, just be different.”
Fairleigh Dickinson certainly did that. The Boilermakers struggled to beat their press, and the Knights essentially double- or triple-teamed Edey and dared Purdue’s guards to beat them by taking open shots. It worked, as Purdue went 5-of-26 from the perimeter. If even a couple of more of those open looks fall, the story is quite different.
Despite his initial confidence, Anderson is probably right that this result probably could not have been replicated again anytime soon. Ultimately, that does not matter. Lightning struck for his team, and they will go down in March Madness lore as a result.
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