Chad Baker-Mazara injury update: Auburn star leaves game with concerning ailment vs. Creighton

Chad Baker-Mazara has brought a much-needed spark to Auburn‘s offense early in the second half against Creighton. A few jump shots have fallen while getting to the rim has worked too. But Baker-Mazara seemingly paid the price on one of them.

After getting bumped in the hip area, Baker-Mazara wound up landing well behind the basket. He was helped up by teammates and eventually able to shoot two free throws. However, backpedaling to play defense, a signal to the bench was shown and Baker-Mazara went to the ground.

Auburn trainers helped him to the sideline and eventually into the locker room. Not what the Tigers needed at this point of the game, in a tight contest. Hopefully, it’s just a stinger and Baker-Mazara will emerge back to the bench and onto the court sooner rather than later.

***UPDATE*** – As the TBS broadcast came back from the under-12 media timeout, Baker-Mazara was back on the bench. Sideline reporter Allie LaForce provided an update on the exact injury after the player was seen with a bag of ice on his hip.

“They’re calling it a right hip bruise,” LaForce said. “They’re still evaluating him, they told me. But as you can see, he’s out here. So, I think staying loose is going to be the key right now until Coach (Bruce Pearl) gives him the green light.”

Charles Barkley reveals why he went to Auburn

Charles Barkley is an Auburn legend and a boisterous spokesman for the school. However, his relationship with Auburn didn’t start out of love. While covering March Madness on Friday, Barkley revealed the hilarious reason why he chose to play at Auburn.

“I ain’t gonna lie, I picked Auburn because they sucked,” Barkley said much to the amusement of his co-hosts. “I wanted to get to play. Alabama had a great program with Wimp Sanderson. UAB with Gene Bartow.

“But I tell kids — this is the No. 1 thing — you want playing time because if you leave home and don’t get to play, you’re gonna have a miserable time in college. It turned into one of the best decisions I ever made to go to Auburn. But I went to Auburn for one reason: they sucked in basketball.”

At least fans can always count on Barkley’s honesty. In fairness, Auburn had posted four consecutive losing seasons prior to Barkley’s arrival on campus. Moreover, the program had never appeared in the NCAA Tournament before.

On3’s Grant Grubbs contributed to this report