Chris Moore injury update: Bruce Pearl pressed for news on Auburn forward's status

Auburn senior forward Chris Moore left the Rupp Arena floor and gingerly walked to the locker room, potentially ending his day. This came after Moore rolled his right ankle on a drive to the basket early in the first half of Thursday’s first-round NCAA Tournament game against Alabama State.

“It’ll be more Chad Baker-Mazara, Miles Kelly, more of the guards, maybe Jahki Howard,” Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl said. His comments came in response to CBS sideline reporter Allie LaForce during the under-12-minute timeout.

Moore, who was fouled on the play but unable to go to the line for his free throws, would be eligible to return if the ankle injury isn’t too serious, though it’s unclear if that’s going to happen. It was first stated by the TV crew that Moore’s day was done.

“Auburn confirmed with me that (Moore) has a sprained ankle, they have not ruled him out yet as he continues to work through it and continues to be evaluated,” LaForce said as CBS showed video of Moore working out his ankle outside the team locker room. “They’re hopeful for the best, but that hasn’t been determined just yet.”

Fellow Tigers forward Chaney Johnson shot Moore’s free throws, making one of two to pull ahead 18-8 on Alabama State with 12:20 remaining in the first half. The Hornets would take advantage of Moore’s absence though, pulling within 28-24 5:31 left in the opening frame after a 9-0 Alabama State run.

Paul Finebaum explains how worried he is about Auburn entering NCAA Tournament

Paul Finebaum watched as Auburn started the 2024-25 campaign on fire, winning 27 of its first 29 games. However, Bruce Pearl’s Tigers have since lost three of their last four, including splitting their two games at the SEC Tournament last week.

That has many worried about how far Auburn can go in the NCAA Tournament, even if it ended up being a top seed when Selection Sunday rolled around. Finebaum eased some of those concerns as fans began to fill out their brackets, claiming he’s not worried about the little skid the Tigers had over the past week and change.

“I’m not as concerned,” Finebaum said regarding Auburn, via McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning. “I talked to Bruce Pearl on Monday of last week. I came away thinking this guy just wants to win one game and get out of Nashville. I think he did that. The way Saturday went had to bother him, but I don’t think he’s that worried. He’s such an emotional coach, though. If suddenly they can’t start clicking like they had been — I think that is legitimate worry.

“Now, I don’t claim to be anything other than a talk-show host, but the experts today seem to think they have a really good regional, and I think you’ll get a lot of — I mean it’s not hard to pick Auburn to get to the Final Four. Now, I know Florida is probably a more popular in Vegas, but Auburn looks like they, for whatever reason, and maybe because they are No. 1 — they’ve got a very manageable path.”

— On3’s Steve Samra contributed to this report.