The Tigers, according to Auburn basketball associate head coach Steven Pearl, were the superior team in Friday’s first-round game against the Yale Bulldogs.
That would have been especially true, in his opinion, had Auburn’s junior guard Chad Baker-Mazara not been sidelined for most of the contest.
“If Chad (Baker-Mazara) is in that game, we beat Yale by 20 points,” Pearl stated during a Tuesday morning appearance on The Next Round. “I’m not interested in dancing around that. Of course, I don’t mean to belittle Yale, but we’re far superior to them, and we ought to have defeated them without him.
All of that, though, was ultimately untrue as Baker-Mazara was dismissed from the game after just three minutes of action in Auburn’s NCAA Tournament opening against Yale. Yale went on to win the game 78-76, ending Auburn’s season.
After elbowing Yale player August Mahoney in a play that Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl claimed was a form of revenge after Baker-Mazara had been struck close to the neck moments before, Baker-Mazara was called for a Flagrant 2 foul and was subsequently ejected.
Steven Pearl repeated such remarks early on Tuesday.
“Looking at the incident and if they look at the possession before, Chad gets smacked in the throat on the way down, which is really frustrating. He retaliated because, inadvertent or not, there had been contact near the neck and face, according to Steven Pearl. But he shouldn’t have struck back. Chad is mature and astute enough to understand that this will happen and that he must maintain his composure, especially in light of the fact that he has been singled out this year.
Following Auburn’s defeat, which Bruce Pearl referred to as one of his “most disappointing losses” in his career, there has been a lot of discussion about the circumstances, with supporters and even opposing basketball coaches offering their opinions.
Furthermore, no one regrets the action more than Baker-Mazara, according to Steven Pearl.
Steven Pearl remarked, “No one feels worse about what happened than Chad Baker.” “For three days after the game, the kid was inconsolable.”
The moment the Tigers arrived back at Auburn from Spokane, Washington, individual meetings were held with the coaches and players. And one of the inquiries, according to Steven Pearl, concerned Baker-Mazara’s well-being following his return home.
In response, some of Auburn’s players stated, “They’re like, ‘He’s apologized to us like six or seven times, separately, on different occasions,'” Steven Pearl said. “Just because it hurts so much.”
It was crucial to lose Baker-Mazara in the first few minutes of Friday’s match versus Yale. And everybody following Auburn’s season up to that point knew it was probably going to be.
Baker-Mazara was averaging more than 20 minutes of play, over 10 points, and over three rebounds per game going into the contest.
Without Chad, we don’t win 27 games or an SEC Championship, Steven Pearl declared on Tuesday. “He plays such a significant role for our team.”
Steven Pearl also had a message for people who were brutally criticizing the junior guard, but in a more explicit way.
“We love Chad Baker to death, and if there are Auburn fans who are hating on him and have that strong of an opinion, just don’t watch us anymore,” Steven Pearl remarked. Naturally, we want him to play a significant role in our program going forward.