Auburn assistant Steven Pearl: 'We beat Yale by 20 points if' Chad Baker-Mazara isn't ejected

Three minutes into Auburn’s matchup against Yale in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Tigers boasted a comfortable 12-5 lead. Then, Chad Baker-Mazara was ejected for committing a Flagrant II foul and chaos ensued.

No. 13 seed Yale would go on to defeat Auburn 78-76, cutting the SEC Tournament champions’ postseason run short. During an appearance with The Next Round on Tuesday, Auburn associate head coach Steven Pearl weighed in on the impact of Baker-Mazara’s ejection.

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“We beat Yale by 20 points if Chad [Baker-Mazara] is in that game,” Pearl said. “I don’t want to dance around that. I’m not trying to, obviously, disrespect Yale, but we’re way better than they are and we should’ve beat them without him.”

Baker-Mazara was ejected with 16:59 remaining in the second half. The 6-foot-7 starter made contact with guard August Mahoney with an apparent elbow, leading to a whistle. It was a substantial loss for the Tigers.

Auburn’s Chad Baker-Mazara was ejected just THREE minutes into the game with a Flagrant 2.

Fair call?

pic.twitter.com/WHkzgwdJhY

— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) March 22, 2024

Baker-Mazara was making his ninth start of the season for Auburn in the game. He played a key role for the Tigers off the bench this season, entering the NCAA Tournament averaging 10.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.

Baker-Mazara also appeared on the SEC’s All-Tournament team after some big games in Nashville, including 14 points in the title game against Florida. Pearl believes there was more to the story than Baker-Mazara’s elbow.

Steven Pearl defends Chad Baker-Mazara

“It’s incredibly frustrating, you look at the incident and if they look at the possession before, Chad gets hit in the throat on the way down,” Pearl said. “Whether it was incidental or not, it was contact close to the neck and face, which is why he retaliated.

“He shouldn’t have retaliated though. Chad’s old enough and smart enough to know, especially how he’s been targeted this year, that that’s going to happen and he’s got to keep his cool.”

Baker-Mazara is a collegiate veteran. Auburn is his fourth program in four years. However, it didn’t take long for him to fall in love with the program. Pearl knows nobody feels worse about the incident than Baker-Mazara, himself.

“The kid was in absolute tears for three days following the game,” Pearl said. “He’s apologized to us like six or seven times, separately, on different occasions.

“If there are Auburn fans that are hating on Chad and have that strong of an opinion, just don’t watch us anymore because Chad Baker is an unbelievable young man and we love him to death. Obviously, we want him to be a big part of our program moving forward.”