Purdue’s Flaws Prove Fatal in Heartbreaking NCAA Tournament Loss to Fairleigh Dickinson

Purdue basketball's season came to an end Friday night in a 63-58 loss to Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Boilermakers turned the ball over 16 times and were 5-of-26 from the 3-point line.

D.J. Fezler | Mar 17, 2023

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — For Purdue to be successful in the NCAA Tournament and make a deep run, it had to prioritize taking care of the basketball and knocking down open shots.

The No. 1-seeded Boilermakers did neither in the first round, giving up possession 16 times while shooting 5-of-26 from the 3-point line in a 63-58 loss to No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson on Friday night at Nationwide Arena.

Junior center Zach Edey led all scorers with 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting and made 7-of-10 from the free-throw line while pulling in 15 rebounds, but the team shot just 35.8 percent from the field.

“They caught us on an off shooting night," Edey said. ”They wouldn't be able to do that if they found us on a good shooting night, but that's just how it is. It wasn't our night from behind the arc, and they capitalized on that."

Purdue was shaky in the first half. Whether it was due to nerves or taking too long to adjust to Fairleigh Dickinson’s style of play, the team struggled to settle in on both ends of the floor.

Edey, who’s been dominant all year for the Boilermakers, started 0-of-3 from the field and had trouble keeping up with the quickness of the Knights. Purdue was also plagued by turnovers, and Fairleigh Dickinson took advantage with a 7-0 run to take an early 15-9 lead.

"Just making him move like that for however many minutes he played, for a dude that's 300 pounds, that's a lot to ask," Purdue junior guard Ethan Morton said of Edey. "He did it to the best of his ability, I thought. It was great.

"Somebody like me really didn't do a good job of helping him out in certain situations. So that definitely takes a toll. As the game wears on, he's not used to that on top of the way he battles down low."

The six-point hole was the team’s largest of the game, and once Edey started to get going underneath the basket, the Boilermakers piled on 11 straight points to make it 24-19 with 5:25 left in the half.

Edey had 12 points before halftime on 3-of-6 shooting while also going 4-of-4 from the free-throw line. But Purdue went dormant from the 3-point line, shooting 2-of-11 from range and failing to extend its lead to double digits.

“They can turn it pretty quickly just with how fast they play and their ability to make shots," Morton said. "You just have to give them credit for sticking with it there."

The shooting struggles, coupled with eight first-half turnovers, opened the door for Fairleigh Dickinson to take a 32-31 lead into the locker room. The Knights played to its strength, using their shiftiness to slash into the paint for easy layups.

Junior forward Mason Gillis and Edey combined to score the first 17 points for the Boilermakers in the second half. Each converted on and-one plays at the rim as part of an 11-0 run, and Purdue had a 47-41 lead with 11:41 to go.

But that narrow advantage evaporated quickly, and the Boilermakers were outscored 22-11 in the final 11:27. Fairleigh Dickinson finished with three players in double figures, led by junior forward Sean Moore’s 19 points.

Senior guard Demetre Roberts and sophomore forward Cameron Tweedy tallied 12 and 10 points, respectively for the Knights. Fairleigh Dickinson finished with seven 3-pointers in the contest and was able to notch 15 points off 16 Purdue turnovers.

"Their pressure was nothing we haven't seen before," Purdue freshman guard Fletcher Loyer said. "But it was constant. And really when you're playing with guys coming from behind you the whole time you've got to have eyes in the back of your head a little bit."

Loyer and fellow freshman guard Braden Smith combined for 10 turnovers in their first NCAA Tournament game for the Boilermakers. Loyer scored Purdue’s final eight points, which included two 3-pointers, and finished with 13 on 4-of-10 shooting.

Junior forward Mason Gillis logged 10 points but was just 1-of-7 from the 3-point line to go along with seven rebounds and three assists. Smith ended with seven points on just 2-of-10 shooting, including 1-of-6 from deep. He also added six assists and three rebounds but led the team with seven turnovers.

"When you don't make threes, it takes away those possessions," Smith said. "But we were getting good looks, they just weren't falling. And then, obviously, turnovers are self-explanatory."

After starting the season unranked, Purdue was able to spend several weeks as the No. 1-ranked team in the country en route to capturing the program's 25th regular-season conference title. On top of winning the league by three games, it surged in the postseason by winning this year's Big Ten Tournament championship game.

However, a first-round exit in the NCAA Tournament now becomes a dark cloud that will hang over the Boilermakers as they transition into the offseason.

"We felt like we had a really good team, and we showed that this year," Edey said. "It sucks that this one game is going to define our season, but I really think that this is a team that came out and exceeded expectations a lot of the time."

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