"Was really disruptive to our team": Auburn HC Bruce Pearl finally reacts to Chad Baker-Mazara's ejection during Tigers' 78-76 loss to Yale

During the Auburn Tigers' upset defeat at the hands of the Yale Bulldogs in the First Round of the NCAA tournament, Chad Baker-Mazara was ejected early into the game in less than four minutes. And despite the team's best efforts to cope with the loss of Mazara, the Tigers succumbed to a 78-76 loss at the hands of Yale, bringing an end to their national championship dreams.

Auburn HC Bruce Pearl, who led the No.4 seed Tigers to an SEC championship this season, came forward to talk about Chad Baker-Mazara's ejection from the game. During the post-game press conference, the 64-year-old HC said that the situation that arose with the Auburn guard was an interesting one.

"From the very beginning, obviously the decision to Flagrant 2 Chad Baker. That's a pretty tough call. He got hit about five seconds earlier. Got tangled up, got a little bit of an elbow, they let it go. Maybe nobody saw it. And about five seconds later, Chad hit him. It was inappropriate, clearly a Flagrant 1. The fact that it was elevated to a Flagrant 2 was a decision that the official had to make."

Bruce Pearl then went on to commend Mazara, stating that his ejection put the team in a difficult spot on the court, which contributed to them losing to No.13 seed Yale.

"Chad is one of our best players. He's one of our very best playmakers and was a huge part of our gameplan. And so to lose him in that situation was really really disruptive to our team on both ends of the floor."

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Why was Chad Baker-Mazara ejected?

During the first four minutes of the game, Chad Baker-Mazara got ejected for a Flagrant 2 foul after officials reviewed the replays. In the replays, they found Mazara appearing to throw an elbow toward the Bulldogs' August Mahoney while both of them were running downcourt.

After the review, officials announced the Auburn guard's ejection after he started sprinting away into the tunnel. This led to Auburn playing without one of their key players on the court. Before his ejection, Chad Baker-Mazara was averaging 10.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists, along with 1.1 steals and 0.5 blocks per game.