March Madness can wait. This was a Delirious December night in Newark that New Jersey Institute of Technology won’t soon forget.

The chants — “NJIT, NJIT” — began as soon as the Highlanders entered the gymnasium. With every positive play, the capacity crowd erupted, the 1,500-seat Fleisher Athletic Center exploding like the game was on the line with each shot, rebound or defensive stop.

Three days after NJIT put itself on the college basketball map with a stunning upset of then-No. 17 Michigan in Ann Arbor, drawing headlines nationwide and blowing up the school’s website and social-media feeds, coach Jim Engles conference-less team returned to a hero’s welcome.

Every seat was filled. Fans stood in each corner of the archaic facility. At halftime, several students left, seemingly to attend night class, and they were immediately replaced by others. A makeshift student section was set up behind the basket, with fans holding fatheads of Engles and stars Daquan Holiday and Damon Lynn.

“I almost got emotional when I walked into the gym and saw my big face in the stands,” Engles said. “That was better than Crisler Arena [where Michigan plays]. That’s what I want. That’s seven years right there.

“That’s building something in the community. The emotion you saw in that gym is true emotion, that’s true joyous emotion.

“I think everybody experienced it.”

Students at the small Newark school, known as one of the country’s elite research institutions, have jumped on the bandwagon. When the team returned from Michigan, more than 200 were waiting for them.

When St. Francis Brooklyn’s Brent Jones’ 3-point attempt bounced off the front of the rim and the follow was ruled late Tuesday, ending NJIT’s dramatic 68-66 victory over the preseason favorite in the Northeast Conference, it was Michigan all over again. The crowd stormed the court, celebrating with the victorious Highlanders.

“I’ve never seen something like that,” Holiday, the senior forward, said. “It definitely motivated us. During my layups, I was like, ‘This is just an amazing feeling.’ ”

It was the largest crowd to see a game since the gym was renovated in 2008, athletic director Lenny Kaplan said. The Michigan win has created a buzz about the basketball program Kaplan hasn’t seen since its first Division I game in 2006.

The last few days have been hectic but thrilling for Engles and the Highlanders, the nation’s only independent Division I program. Prior to Tuesday night’s game, as Engles discussed the win over Michigan in a phone interview, he quickly transitioned to the program’s unsure future.

While Michigan — two years removed from reaching the national championship game — has opportunities to rebound and win the Big Ten, Engles’ team continues to wait for a call from the NCAA that it has found the Highlanders a conference.

It remains unclear when they will find a home. They have been told their lack of a football program is a hindrance, as is their subpar facilities. NJIT added a lacrosse program to appease prospective conferences — the team starts its first season this spring — and there are talks underway to build a $100 million facility, but there are no guarantees.

“There is no endgame here,” said Engles, a 46-year-old Staten Island native. “The problem is nobody has gone through this. I’ve been here for seven years and we’ve made the progress on the court we’ve had to make. I’m hoping we get back into the conversation.”

When NJIT made the move to Division I in 2006, it was one of many independents. The Highlanders went winless the next year, before Engles signed on after serving more than a decade as a Division I assistant coach at Columbia, Rider and Wagner College. It joined the fledgling Great West Conference for the 2009-10 season, winning the league’s regular season title the next year, but the conference folded after the 2012-13 season, as realignment led to the other teams joining the Western Athletic and Southland conferences.

Saturday’s stunning victory at Michigan shined a bright light on Engles’ work at NJIT, but it’s just a fraction of the yeoman’s job he’s done at the Newark school. His teams have hovered around .500 in each of the last four years, winning at Duquesne and nearly at Marquette this season in addition to the Michigan shocker. NJIT has come a long way since losing 51 games in a row from Feb. 8, 2007 through Jan. 21, 2009.

“We built this program from the start, we can’t lose sight of that,” Engles said. “That’s who we are, we own that. That’s something that will always be with us.

“That’s why something like tonight is so special.”