Fairleigh Dickinson was riding high Wednesday evening, fresh off its second-ever men’s NCAA Tournament win—an 84-61 pasting of Texas Southern in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio.
Knights coach Tobin Anderson, however, anted up in his team’s raucous postgame celebration, unintentionally calling out Fairleigh Dickinson’s formidable first-round opponent.
“I don’t want Purdue to see this, right?” Anderson said before delivering his motivating message (a remark misheard by some as “I want Purdue to see this”).
The first-year coach—a six-time Division II tournament qualifier at St. Thomas Aquinas in Sparkill, N.Y.—then outlined his plan to stun the nation Friday in Columbus, Ohio.
“I walked into breakfast this morning and (assistant coach) Kam Murrell said to me,” Anderson said, “’The more I watch Purdue, the more I think we can beat them.’ Let’s go shock the world.”
Only one No. 16 seed ever has defeated a No. 1 seed in the men’s NCAA tournament: UMBC, which topped Virginia, 74-54, in Charlotte on March 16, 2018.
