Auburn basketball's Chad Baker-Mazara ejected for throwing elbow Saturday vs Alabama
Auburn’s top-ranked men’s basketball team had to play the final 15 minutes of one of its biggest games of the 2024-25 season without one of its most important players.
With his team trailing archrival No. 8 Alabama by five with 10:52 remaining, Tigers guard/forward Chad Baker-Mazara was hit with a flagrant 2 foul after thrusting his forearm into the back of the head of Crimson Tide guard Chris Youngblood while fighting for position for a potential rebound.
Youngblood fell to the court grasping the back of his head and, after a video review from game officials, Baker-Mazara was ejected.
The 25-year-old senior is Auburn’s No. 2 scorer this season at 13.1 points per game. He also leads the team in steals at 1.2 per game. At the time of his ejection, he had seven points and three assists.
According to the NCAA men’s basketball rule book, a flagrant 2 foul is a personal foul that “involves contact with an opponent that is not only excessive, but also severe (brutal, harsh, cruel) or extreme (dangerous, punishing), while the ball is live.”
When determining whether a foul rises to the level of a flagrant 2, an official must consider, according to the NCAA rule book:
a) The severity of the contact;
b) Whether a player is making a legitimate effort to block a shot. Note that a player may still be assessed a flagrant 2 foul on an attempted blocked shot when there are other factors, such as hard contact to the head or the defender winding up or emphatically following through with the contact. Depending on the nature of the contact, or the result of the contact, this foul also could be considered a flagrant 1 or common personal foul;
c) The potential for injury resulting from the contact (e.g., a blow to the head or a foul committed while the player was in a vulnerable position). Depending on the nature of the contact, or the result of the contact, the foul also could be considered a flagrant 1 or common personal foul;
d) Any contact by the offending player to the groin area of an opponent which is not clearly accidental; and
e) Any foul similar to the foul described in Rule 4-15.2.c.1.g in which the contact, or the result of the contact, is not only excessive but also severe or extreme.