COLUMBUS, Ohio — Fairleigh Dickinson brought down a giant.
Pulling off one of the biggest upsets in the history of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, the undersized, underdog Knights stunned East Region No. 1 seed Purdue 63-58 on Friday night, becoming the second No. 16 seed to win a game in March Madness.
The shortest team in the tourney, the Knights (21-15) showed no fear in swarming 7-foot-4 All-America center Zach Edey from the start and simply outplayed the Boilermakers (29-6), who lost in their first game since winning the Big Ten tournament title Sunday.
"If we played them 100 times, they'd probably beat us 99 times," Knights coach Tobin Anderson said. "Play them 100 times, we have one win. But tonight's the one we had to be unique, we had to be unorthodox. We had to make it tough on them, just be different."
Sean Moore scored 19 points to lead the Knights and a relentless defensive charge — they pressed most of the game — by a team that now has everyone's attention.
Five years ago, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County showed the way for the little guys by overwhelming Virginia in the first 16-over-1 victory after numerous close calls over the years. Still, No. 16s had a 1-150 record against No. 1s and were 1-151 overall before the Knights pulled off another shocker.
After the final horn, the winning players mobbed each other on the floor of Nationwide Arena, where the fans from Memphis and Florida Atlantic who were waiting for the day's final game joined forces in cheering on the Knights in the frantic final minutes.
Florida Atlantic beat Memphis and will now meet the Knights on Sunday for a Sweet 16 berth and a trip next week to play at Madison Square Garden in New York — just a short drive from the private school's campus in Teaneck, New Jersey.
Fairleigh Dickinson didn't even win the title at its Northeast Conference tournament, falling by one point in the final to Merrimack, which couldn't participate in March Madness because of an NCAA rule that bars it from the national postseason because it's still completing its four-year transition from Division II.
"Man, I can't even explain it," Moore said. "I'm still in shock right now. I can't believe it. It's crazy. But it feels amazing."
The Knights held the Boilermakers scoreless for more than 5 1/2 minutes down the stretch and moved ahead by five on a 3-pointer by Moore — who is from suburban Columbus — with 1:03 left.
Fairleigh Dickinson held on from there, becoming the third straight double-digit seed to send the Boilermakers home. Purdue was a No. 3 seed when it lost to No. 15 seed Saint Peter's, another small New Jersey school, in the Sweet 16 last year. The Boilermakers were bounced in the first round by 13th-seeded North Texas in 2021.
"Our job was just to come into the game and throw a punch," said the Knights' Demetre Roberts, who's 20 inches shorter than Edey. "We knew they would throw multiple punches. Just throw a punch back. We knew what type of game this was."
Edey finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds in what may have been his final college game — the junior center is a possible NBA draft lottery pick — but the Knights were masterful against him in the second half. Edey didn't attempt a shot in the final nine minutes, and any time he touched the ball, there were defenders draped all around him.
"A lot of times they would have one dude guarding from behind and one dude basically sitting in my lap," Edey said. "They were full fronting the entire game. Made it very hard to get catches. Credit to them, they had a great game plan coming in. And they executed it very well."
The Knights went 4-22 in the 2021-22 season, and their two prior NCAA tourney wins before Friday came in the First Four, including this year, when they drubbed Texas Southern 84-61.
Florida Atlantic 66, Memphis 65
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Nicholas Boyd drove into the lane and made a floater with 2.5 seconds left, and ninth-seeded Florida Atlantic beat eighth-seeded Memphis in a rugged, back-and-forth game for the school's first-ever NCAA tourney win.
Coach Penny Hardaway's Tigers (26-9) had the ball and a one-point lead with 19 seconds left, but a steal by Brandon Weatherspoon and a subsequent jumpball — Hardaway argued his team had called timeout before the tie-up — gave the Owls (32-3) a chance, and Boyd converted.
Giancarlo Rosado scored 15 points to lead Florida Atlantic, and Kendric Davis scored 16 points for Memphis despite being hobbled by a second-half leg injury. DeAndre Williams added 13 points while playing most of the second half with four fouls for the Tigers, including a tip-in that put his team ahead 65-64 with 34 seconds left.
Kentucky 61, Providence 53
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Oscar Tshiebwe pulled down 25 rebounds, the second most by a single player in the tournament since 1973, to help the sixth-seeded Wildcats (22-11) beat No. 11 seed Providence (21-12).
Antonio Reeves scored 22 points and Jacob Toppin had 18 for Kentucky, while Ed Croswell's 16 led Providence.
Eleven of Tshiebwe's rebounds came on the offensive glass — a big factor in the Wildcats staying in control as each team's attack ground to a halt after halftime. With the two-time AP All-American grabbing just about every loose ball, Kentucky finished with a 48-31 rebounding advantage, controlling the offensive glass (plus-10) and dominating in second-chance points, 18-2.
Kansas State 77, Montana State 65
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Markquis Nowell had 17 points and 14 assists, and No. 3 seed Kansas State held off 14th-seeded Montana State for its first NCAA tourney win since knocking off Kentucky in 2018 to reach the Elite Eight.
Now the two sets of Wildcats will meet again in a rematch Sunday in the second round.
Nowell and fellow third-team AP All-American Keyontae Johnson, who had 18 points and eight rebounds, proved too much for the Bobcats to handle. Nae'Qwan Tomlin added 13 points for Kansas State (24-9).
RaeQuan Battle had 26 points on 9-of-17 shooting for Montana State (25-10), which had its eight-game winning steak snapped.
Michigan State 72, Southern Cal 62
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Joey Hauser scored 17 points and No. 7 seed Michigan State clamped down defensively on No. 10 seed Southern California in the second half.
Coach Tom Izzo's Spartans (20-12) will face Marquette on Sunday for a spot in the Sweet 16.
Jaden Akins and Tyson Walker added 12 points apiece for Michigan State, which held the Trojans (22-11) to 34% shooting in the second half.
Joshua Morgan scored 14 and Kobe Johnson 13 to lead Southern Cal, which was knocked out in the first round for the second straight year.
Marquette 78, Vermont 61
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Kam Jones scored 18 straight points for Marquette in the second half, and the second-seeded Golden Eagles beat No. 15 seed Vermont for their first NCAA tourney victory in a decade.
Jones finished with 19 points, Oso Ighodaro scored 14 and David Joplin added 12 as Marquette (29-6) pulled away in the last 10 minutes.
Robin Duncan, Dylan Penn and Matt Veretto each had 11 points for Vermont (23-11), which had won 15 games in a row.
Jones made a 3-pointer early in the second half to begin an 18-6 spurt in which he scored all of Marquette's points as the Golden Eagles built a 63-46 lead.
MIDWEST REGION
Xavier 72, Kennesaw State 67
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Jack Nunge blocked Terrell Burden's driving attempt at a go-ahead layup in the final seconds, and Xavier dug out of a 13-point hole against surprising Kennesaw State.
Souley Boum hit four clinching free throws in the final 2.6 seconds for the third-seeded Musketeers (26-9), who ran off 15 unanswered points as part of a game-ending 24-6 run. That was enough to turn away the 14th-seeded Owls (26-9) in the Atlanta-area program's first-ever game in an NCAA Division I tourney.
Xavier moves on to face Pittsburgh on Sunday.
Xavier led 68-67 when Burden — successful all day with dribble penetration — turned into the paint past Jerome Hunter and appeared to have a path to the rim. The 7-foot Nunge moved over and swatted the ball into the backboard.
Jerome Hunter scored 24 points to lead the Musketeers, while Boum had 17 and Nunge added 10 with 11 rebounds, two steals and two blocks.
Burden and Chris Youngblood each scored 14 points to lead Kennesaw State.
Pittsburgh 59, Iowa State 41
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Nelly Cummings scored 13 points and No. 11 seed Pittsburgh (24-11) held sixth-seeded Iowa State (19-14) to 23% shooting.
Jamarius Burton added 11 points and Greg Elliott had 10 for coach Jeff Capel's Panthers, who edged Mississippi State in a First Four game earlier in the week and stormed to a 22-2 lead Friday after Iowa State missed its first 11 shots. Things didn't get much better for the Cyclones, who had three stretches in which they missed at least eight consecutive shots.
Jaren Holmes and Gabe Kalscheur each had 12 points for Iowa State.
Miami 63, Drake 56
ALBANY, N.Y. — Nijel Pack scored 21 points, including the go-ahead jumper and a pair of free throws in the final minute, and No. 5 seed Miami (26-7) rallied past 12th-seeded Drake (27-8).
The Hurricanes scored the final 10 points. Norchad Omier added 12 points and 14 rebounds for the Hurricanes, who were held to a season low in scoring. Wooga Poplar had 15 points.
Darnell Brodie had 20 points and nine rebounds to lead Drake. The Missouri Valley Conference tournament champions were outscored 16-1 over the final 4:29 and 10-0 in the last 2:28.
Indiana 71, Kent State 60
ALBANY, N.Y. — Trayce Jackson-Davis did it all with 24 points, 11 rebounds, five blocked shots and five assists as Indiana defeated 13th-seeded Kent State to reach the NCAA's second round for the first time since 2016.
The fourth-seeded Hoosiers (23-11) advanced to play fifth-seeded Miami for a trip to Kansas City in the Sweet 16.
Jackson-Davis became the first player since blocks became an official NCAA statistic in 1985-86 to have at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, five blocks and five assists in an NCAA tourney game, according to OptaSTATS.
Sincere Carry scored 15 points to lead the Golden Flashes (28-7), who had won six straight games.
Race Thompson matched a season high with 20 points for the Hoosiers on 8-of-11 shooting.
WEST REGION
Saint Mary's 63, VCU 51
ALBANY, N.Y. — Mitchell Saxen had 17 points, seven rebounds and four blocks, and Saint Mary's beat ailing Virginia Commonwealth University.
Alex Ducas also scored 17 points as the fifth-seeded Gaels (27-7) advanced to the second round for the second straight year. Logan Johnson had 12 points and 10 rebounds for Saint Mary's, which will face Connecticut on Sunday.
Ace Baldwin led 12th-seeded VCU (27-8) with 13 points, but he appeared to sprain his right ankle on his landing after taking a jumper with just more than 14 minutes left in regulation. The Atlantic 10 player and defender of the year went to the locker room for treatment and missed about five minutes.
UConn 87, Iona 63
ALBANY, N.Y. — Adama Sanogo scored 10 of his 28 points in the first five minutes of the second half as fourth-seeded UConn (26-8) took control and beat Iona (27-8).
Coach Rick Pitino's Gaels had their 14-game winning streak snapped. The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champs led by two at halftime but didn't have the depth to keep up with one of the Big East's best for 40 minutes.
Walter Clayton Jr. led Iona with 14 points.
Gonzaga 82, Grand Canyon 70
DENVER — Slow-starting Gonzaga finally started playing like a title contender, then wore out Grand Canyon behind 28 points and 10 rebounds from Julian Strawther.
Zags senior Drew Timme brought his sweatband and handlebar moustache back to March Madness and finished with 21 points, six rebounds and three blocks for the third-seeded Bulldogs (29-5), who haven't lost a first-round game in the tourney since 2008.
Ray Harrison led the 14th-seeded Lopes (24-12) with 20 points and Chance McMillian had 16.
TCU 72, Arizona State 70
DENVER — JaKobe Coles hit a floater from the lane with 1.5 seconds left, completing No. 6 seed TCU's rally from an 11-point second-half deficit to beat 11th-seeded Arizona State.
Coles took a pass Mike Miles Jr. from near the top of the 3-point circle, dribbled once and let go of the winning shot.
Arizona State's desperation heave at the buzzer was off.
Miles, playing on a hyperextended right knee, finished with 26 points for the Horned Frogs (22-12), who advanced to play Gonzaga.
DJ Horne had 17 points for Arizona State (23-13).
SOUTH REGION
Baylor 74, UCSB 56
DENVER — Caleb Lohner scored a season-best 13 points in just 18 minutes, and No. 3 seed Baylor (23-10) beat No. 14 seed UC Santa Barbara (27-8).
Adam Flagler led the Bears with 18 points, and LJ Cryer scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half as the team overcame a one-point halftime deficit and advanced to play Creighton on Sunday.
Miles Norris led the Gauchos with 15 points and Ajay Mitchell added 13.
Creighton 72, N.C. State 63
DENVER — Ryan Kalkbrenner scored a career-high 31 points, and sixth-seeded Creighton (22-12) overcame an abysmal 3-point shooting day to fend off No. 11 seed North Carolina State (23-11).
The 7-foot-1 Kalkbrenner did a little bit of everything for the Bluejays, which included hitting a big 3 on a day the team finished 3-of-20 from long range. Kalkbrenner had six dunks and seven rebounds, and N.C. State big men D.J. Burns Jr. and Ebenezer Dowuona were hampered by foul trouble.
Terquavion Smith led the Wolfpack with 32 points.