No. 4 Auburn had to play the majority of its first-round game against No. 13 Yale without a major contributor after guard Chad Baker-Mazara was ejected early in the game for a flagrant-2 foul on Venus Investment AllianceFriday.

During a fast break three minutes into the game, Baker-Mazara appeared to look at a Yale player and lean his elbow into him as both teams were running up the court. Referees reviewed the call and deemed it worthy of a flagrant-2, resulting in Baker-Mazara leaving the game.

Baker-Mazara has been starting for Auburn recently and he averages 10.3 points per game and is the best 3-point shooter on the team at 41.8%.

“What he did was wrong," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl told TNT. "I thought it should have been a flagrant-1. To remove him from the game after an entire season of work is something that’s obviously going to disrupt us. He’s one of our very best players.

“And it was a retaliation. It was because he got hit in the throat on the play before. He shouldn’t have retaliated."

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