Bruce Pearl calls out officials for ejecting Chad Baker-Mazara in NCAA Tournament upset loss vs. Yale

It didn’t take long for Auburn to have to fight through some adversity Friday in its NCAA Tournament opener. Just three minutes into the game, Chad Baker-Mazara was ejected after committing a Flagrant 2 foul against Yale, leaving the Tigers without a starter.

At the time, Bruce Pearl said he didn’t think the officials should have called a Flagrant 2, and instead should’ve left it as a Flagrant 1. After the game, he said he didn’t get much of an explanation from the referees.

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“I think perhaps a couple of words, the fact that it was serious, maybe, or intentional,” Pearl said, via Auburn Live’s Justin Hokanson. “Chad lined him up and retaliated. So by [the] book or if that’s the wording they will use as a Flagrant 2, but it had a huge impact on the game and I don’t think any – I think if he called it a Flagrant 1, I don’t think any – it was a Flagrant 1. He intentionally, it was excessive, it was – how many Flagrant 2s are there in games versus Flagrant 1s? That would be a good discussion.

“Let’s just say, of all the flagrants in my experience, 90 percent, maybe 1s, maybe. 10 percent. Tough to get here after all year long. I don’t even know if we had a Flagrant 2 all year.

Bruce Pearl pointed out the impact Baker-Mazara’s ejection would have on Auburn during an in-game interview, and he reiterated that after the game. The biggest impact came on defense, which was amplified late in the game as Yale came back from the 10-point deficit to ultimately pull off the stunner after some missed opportunities by the Tigers.

More players had to step up, and Pearl said depth became an issue.

“It was huge,” Pearl said. “They have a great defensive guard in Bez. Bez is a great defensive guard. The other guards are better offensively than they are defensively. So Denver Jones had a really good offensive game, but we needed that other guard out there offensively. Denver was a little bit under the weather. He had to play through that. So he wound up playing more minutes under the weather.

“Chris Moore had to play more minutes. K.D. had to play more minutes. We just weren’t as deep or as fresh. I don’t think they — I think they took a shot at Chad. They hit him and he retaliated. Can’t retaliate. But they hit him first.”