What happened to Purdue in March Madness 2023? When Fairleigh Dickinson's upset of Purdue shook the college hoops world

During the 2022-23 NCAA tournament, 16th seed Fairleigh Dickinson Knights sent top seeds Purdue Boilermakers packing in the first round, marking only the second instance of a 1-seed falling to the 16th.

The Knights, severely undersized (their average height was just six-foot-one) beat the Boilermakers in the first round. It was a game that virtually nobody had picked to go in the Knights' favor, mainly because Purdue was the better team, both on paper and on the court. Moreover, the FDU Knights had sneaked into March Madness on a technicality.

The Knights were ranked dead-last in the nation among postseason teams, at 68th. So the only way for them to make it was for Northeast Conference champion Merrimack (which they lost to in the conference title game) to get bumped down to D2.

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What happened to Purdue in March Madness 2023?

Heading into their first round matchup against Fairleigh Dickinson, things were riding high for Purdue.

They had the reigning National Player of the Year in seven-foot-four behemoth Zach Edey. He was poised to lead them to their first national championship in program history. They also had an excellent 29-6 record for the regular season.

Things, though, looked bleak for the top-seeded Boilermakers in the game. They just couldn't buy a bucket, shooting 5-of-26 from the three for the game. The only one who didn't struggle much on offense was the towering Edey, who shot 7-of-11 from the field.

The team's poor shooting allowed Fairleigh Dickinson to stay within striking distance in the first half, only being down by one heading into the break.

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Purdue's shooting struggles continued

In the second half, things remained close. Purdue barely scored, and for some reason, they just didn't dump the ball to Edey down low and let him work.

They settled for multiple highly contested layups in the final minutes. Edey was once caught overhelping on the pick-and-roll en route to a Sean Moore three from the top of the key to put FDU 61-56 up with 55 seconds left.

Fletcher Loyer scored two free throws in the ensuing play to bring Purdue to 61-58. But that was the last time they would score. Edey blocked a drive to the basket, with the Boilermakers getting the ball on a Fairleigh Dickinson last-touch turnover by the baseline.

On the next Purdue play, they had 30 seconds to inch closer, but once again failed to dump the ball to their star down low. They had a layup attempt blocked by Sean Moore after his big 3-pointer.

The next play, Edey was once again sealed inside just waiting for a pass into the post. But Loyer heaved an extremely contested three from the corner instead with the ball falling into the hands of Demetre Roberts. Roberts then sealed the game with two free throws.

What happened was pretty simple. When it mattered the most, Purdue just couldn't score. They also failed to feed Edey's hot hand down the stretch when they should've, as they had the size advantage all night.

Eventually, it was just another playoff failure for the Boilermakers, who have bowed out of the tournament to double-digit-seeded teams in the last three seasons.