THE END FOR BRAVE KNIGHTS
FDU won’t make it to Garden and Sweet 16, but what a run
COLUMBUS — Johnell Davis scored 29 points, Alijah Martin added 14 and Florida Atlantic ended Fairleigh Dickinson’s magical moment by outlasting the No. 16 seed 78-70 on Sunday night in the NCAA Tournament.
The ninth-seeded Owls (33-3) needed everything they had to put away the Knights (21-16), who stunned top-seeded Purdue on Friday night in just the second 16over-1 upset in men’s tournament history.
It will be FAU, not FDU, which will play Tennessee in the Sweet 16 on Thursday at Madison Square Garden.
“My team just believed in me,” said Davis, a junior from Gary, Indiana. “It’s just a dream come true.”
The Knights fell short after eliminating Purdue, but not before putting up a fight to the finish. After the final horn, coach Tobin Anderson and FDU’s players walked across the floor to thank their fans, most of whom never expected to spend five days in Ohio watching their team make history.
Demetre Roberts scored 20 points and Sean Moore 14 for FDU, which didn’t even win the Northeast Conference tournament before becoming an NCAA team that won’t soon be forgotten.
KANSAS ST. 75, KENTUCKY 69
Markquis Nowell never lost faith, not when Kansas State had hardly anyone left on the roster for a new coach, nor when the Wildcats were picked last in the Big 12.
“He always believed,” coach Jerome Tang said, “And he helped me believe.”
And that led Kansas State to this decidedly hard-to-believe moment: headed for Madison Square Garden, ticket in hand for the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16.
Nowell scored 23 of his 27 points after halftime, and Kansas State overcame a horrid start from
outside by hitting a couple of clutch 3-pointers while topping Kentucky, 75-69, in Sunday’s second round.
Tang has gone from having just two players on the roster to having a matching number of NCAA wins — sending the Wildcats (25-9) to their first Sweet 16 since 2018.
“Dudes,” Tang said. “We got dudes. That’s what it takes. I mean, people get all caught up in the coaching and all of that stuff. It’s dudes.”
Kansas State faces No. 7 seed Michigan State in the East Region semifinals on Thursday.
Kansas State missed its first 13 3-pointers and sat at 2 for 17 when the outside shots started falling. Nowell buried a step-back 3 against Cason Wallace to pull within 60-59, soon followed by Ismael Massoud from the right wing for a 64-62 edge with 2:21 left.
Keyontae Johnson added another from that side near the Kansas State bench, making it 67-62 with 1:23 left and creating a jolt with the kind of margin that felt massive considering nearly all of the second half had been played within four points.
The 5-foot-8 Nowell, a third-team Associated Press All-American, played a fearless floor game. He was part of two memorable plays before halftime: a behind-the-back transition pass to Johnson for a dunk, and then a look-away alley-oop to Nae’Qwan Tomlin on the baseline to end the half.
He hit three 3s, the first over Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe after the 0-for-13 start and another with his left foot on the “March Madness” midcourt logo.
“Tough way to end,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “We had some guys really fight like crazy and then had a couple of guys offensively not play their game the way they played all year. But that stuff happens in this tournament.”
Kansas State’s path isn’t nearly so common.
Tang left Baylor after a long stint on Scott Drew’s staff to take over a program that last went to the tournament in 2019 and saw three straight losing seasons.
Yet after a summer of transfer-portal work, the Wildcats thrived right away. And Tang’s bets paid off in a number of ways Sunday.