FDU beating Purdue is officially the biggest upset in March Madness history

The No. 16 seed FDU Knights pulled off an upset victory over the No. 1 seed Purdue Boilermakers for officially the biggest upset in March Madness history.

So far in the 2023 men’s NCAA Tournament, there have been some monumental upsets. The No. 13 seed Furman Paladins defeated the No. 4 seed Virginia Cavaliers, while the No. 15 seed Princeton Tigers beat the No. 2 seed Arizona Wildcats. Surely, college basketball fans had their fill of upsets in the opening round, right? Wrong.

On Friday, the No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson Knights, who are the shortest team in the entire nation, beat the No. 1 Purdue Boilermakers 63-58 to advance to the second round. And with that, every perfect bracket that remained was officially busted.

FDU’s win over Purdue is officially the biggest upset in March Madness history, as the Knights were 23.5-point underdogs entering the game, per CBS Sports’ Chris Hassel. The previous record was set in 2012 by No. 15 Norfolk State, who defeated No. 2 Missouri as 21-point underdogs.

FDU’s win over Purdue officially the biggest upset in March Madness history

The Knights are now the second No. 16 seed to defeat the No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament history. Of course, the first team to do so was the 2018 UMBC Retrievers, who defeated the No. 1 Virginia Cavaliers. Fairleigh Dickenson’s win was even more improbable because of how they made it into the tournament.

FDU pulled ahead late in the game, thanks to Sean Moore. He made two free throw attempts to extend the Knights’ lead to 56-53, secured a steal and made a layup, then answered a three-pointer by the Boilermakers’ Fletcher Loyer with a three-pointer of his own to give FDU a 61-56 lead. Over a minute of playing time later, the Knights won.

Moore led the way for FDU, scoring 19 points (7-for-17 from field, 3-for-10 from three-point line), grabbing five rebounds, blocking two shots, and recording a steal.

One day after a New Jersey team sent a No. 2 seed home, another one from the Garden State conquered a No. 1 seed and the Big Ten Tournament champions.

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