Fairleigh Dickinson upset of Purdue draws largest rating since TNT became March Madness partner

Fallout from Fairleigh Dickinson‘s historic upset win over 1-seed Purdue hasn’t ended just yet.

The Knight’s victory ended up drawing 4.37 million viewers on TNT, good for the highest-rated game Turner Sports has logged in the first round of the NCAA Tournament since becoming its media partner in 2011.

FDU would go on to lose to Florida Atlantic in the second round and be sent home right before being able to play in front of a hometown crowd in Madison Square Garden.

Still, in the time between the Knight’s upset victory over the Boilermakers and their Round of 32 game, March Madness was obsessed with its ultimate Cinderella, and rightfully so.

Why Fairleigh Dickinson’s upset was so special

Fairleigh Dickinson is the only mid-major team that earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament that did not win its respective conference championship. Merrimack was the 2023 Northeast Tournament champion but was not eligible for this team’s tournament. 

The win over Texas Southern in the First Four was the first for the Knights in the Big Dance since 2019 (First Four vs. Prairie View) and just their second all-time. They were 2-6 all-time the NCAA Tournament dating back to 1985 and have never been greater than a 15-seed, which only happened once back in 1998. That was before they played Purdue.

And they called their shot after taking down TSU.

“I want Purdue to see this. I want them to break a sweat … the more I watch Purdue, the more I think we can beat them. Let’s shock the world,” FDU head coach Tobin Anderson said after the win.

The quote raised eyebrows throughout the college basketball world, but less than 48 hours later, the Knights would become the second 16-seed in the history of March Madness to defeat a 1-seed. They might have lost to FAU in their next game, but people will always remember where they were when the Knights — the smallest team in the country — took down Purdue and the 7-foot-4, 300-pound Zach Edey.

Now that FDU is responsible for taking out the 1-seed in the East region, and 7-seed Michigan State upset 2-seed Marquette, the East is wide open with FAU, the Spartans, Tennessee and Kansas State still alive. One of those teams will make the Final Four, and it could be a toss-up as to which team can eventually run the eastern gauntlet.

And we have Fairleigh Dickinson to thank for distrupting it.