Baker-Mazara was told he couldn't play in the SEC

[aubiefifty 16,826]

al.com

Auburn's Baker-Mazara was told he couldn't play in the SEC. He proved otherwise Saturday

Published: Jan. 08, 2024, 6:30 a.m.

5–7 minutes

Auburn junior Chad Baker-Mazara hasn’t stayed in one place too long.

Baker-Mazara, a native of the Dominican Republic, started his career at Duquesne during the 2020-21 season. He spent the following season at San Diego State before academic struggles forced him to move on to Northwest Florida State College, a junior college nestled up in the Florida panhandle.

At Northwest Florida State College, Baker-Mazara helped lead the Raiders to an appearance in the NJCAA national championship as he averaged a team-high 15.2 points on the season. In the narrow national championship loss, Baker-Mazara scored 21 points.

Following the 2022-23 season at Northwest Florida State College, Baker-Mazara was in sophomore standing, meaning his time in junior college was over and if we wanted to continue playing, he’d have to return to a four-year institution to do so.

According to Baker-Mazara’s social media, the Texas A&M Aggies expressed interest, as did the Kentucky Wildcats.

But just eight hours after he posted about Kentucky giving him a call, Baker-Mazara returned to his social media to announce his commitment to Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers, despite naysayers telling him he wasn’t built for the SEC.

“My whole life I’ve been dreaming about playing this game in the SEC,” Baker-Mazara said after Auburn’s 83-51 blowout win over Arkansas Saturday afternoon. “I’ve always heard people say I’m too skinny to play, or he might not be physical enough... I’m just trying to prove the people they’re wrong.”

And on Saturday afternoon, against an Arkansas program that had won four of the last five over Auburn and in a Bud Walton Arena that’s oft regarded as being one of the toughest road environments in the league, Baker-Mazara was given his first opportunity to hush his doubters.

He wasted no time at all.

Baker-Mazara came off the bench after less than three minutes of game clock had expired and immediately provided Auburn with a spark as he collected an offensive rebound, second-chance layup and a dunk in just more than a minute and a half.

After 12 minutes of action in the first half, Baker Mazara found himself heading to the locker room with 14 points, making him the only Auburn player in double-digit scoring. He did so on a 5-for-8 effort from the field, including a 2-for-3 effort from beyond the arc. He also added four rebounds in the first period.

With the help of SEC newbie Baker-Mazara, the Tigers were able to mount a seven-point lead over the Razorbacks at the break.

“Particularly Chad Baker offensively, just made some big shots and made some good decisions in a really tough stretch,” Pearl said. “His plus-minus wasn’t great, but we needed his buckets to sort of settle us down. He, I thought, gave us a great deal of confidence.”

Auburn outscored Arkansas 46-21 in the second half, paving the way for the Tigers to blow the doors off of Bud Walton Arena as the Razorbacks were handed their most lopsided home loss in program history — something Baker-Mazara wasn’t aware of until a reporter mentioned it during his postgame interview.

“I didn’t know that, but now you made it way better to be honest,” Baker-Mazara said. “That’s incredible. You’re always seeing online how this is one of the best arenas to play at. To be honest, it really was.”

That kind of reaction is to be expected from a player experiencing his first-ever SEC road game. After all, Baker-Mazara is the same guy who said he was too excited to sleep ahead of Auburn’s exhibition game against Auburn-Montgomery.

“Overall, it’s just great to be out there representing Auburn,” Baker-Mazara said after his first experience in front of Auburn’s student section, affectionately known as “The Jungle.”

Baker-Mazara carried that same feeling of gratitude into Bud Walton Arena Saturday afternoon.

“Hungry and humble,” Pearl said of Baker-Mazara after reminding reporters that he came from the junior college ranks.

Baker-Mazara’s scoring tear slowed in the second half as his teammates began to find their groove, namely Johni Broome, who put up 14 second-half points.

Nonetheless, in his first-ever SEC game, Baker-Mazara finished with 16 points, giving him the distinction of Auburn’s leading scorer for the first time this season.

What was supposed to be Baker-Mazara’s introduction to the SEC felt more like the SEC’s introduction to Baker-Mazara.

“Was it addressed that on the right wing they run a pick-and-roll for him to get to the middle and shoot his pull-up jump shot? Yeah, it was addressed about a hundred times,” a frustrated Arkansas’ head coach Eric Musselman said of Baker-Mazara. “But he still got to his sweet spot and I thought he played really hard, I thought he played really aggressive.”

So much for him being to skinny or not aggressive enough.

“It’s all about your heart and how bad you really want it,” Baker-Mazara said. “And that’s what really started me going, just got the flow of the game.”

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[aubiefifty 16,826]

i missed this earlier but i thought it was news worthy.

[gravejd 3,270]

He has definitely been one of the main reason for the great play so far this season. All around really solid player. He does need to realize the refs are watching him close now after a couple of technicals for talking. Love the attitude but gotta let your play do the talking for you. Steal of last years class for sure. 

[ArgoEagle 1,792]

Some athletes just play better with a little attitude, which includes a little mouthing on the court.

You just learn when & when not to do it.  The worst time is when you are within 5 feet of the refs.  And don't do it excessively (all the time)

[cole256 17,084]

Yep. You'd be surprised how many people will count you out before even seeing you play. 

 

[WillMunny 1,380]

4 hours ago, ArgoEagle said:

Some athletes just play better with a little attitude, which includes a little mouthing on the court.

You just learn when & when not to do it.  The worst time is when you are within 5 feet of the refs.  And don't do it excessively (all the time)

[ArgoEagle 1,792]

44 minutes ago, WillMunny said:

Yep! That's who came to mind, but I thought I would get hammered for comparing CBM to Larry.

[BizEagle 79]

7 hours ago, ArgoEagle said:

Some athletes just play better with a little attitude, which includes a little mouthing on the court.

You just learn when & when not to do it.  The worst time is when you are within 5 feet of the refs.  And don't do it excessively (all the time)

It looked like he CBM was jawing with the Arky bench and their coaches.   He  was getting knocked around, like it was part of Arky's game plan.  It was as if coach Muss told them to knock the skinny guy around, so when he scored CBM just came by their bench and gave 'em some trash talk.  Arky's Devo Davis knocked the crap out of CBM, but an official saw it and tagged him a flagrant, so Muss had to bench him for a while.  A lot of players would have started a fight in the situation but CBM just turned it up.  What a great find by Pearl.

[KillenTime 127]

May be the best player on the team.  It is at least debatable.  

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

Without knowing exactly what was said, it looked like some home cooking to me. I couldn't tell you the last time i remember two techs getting called for trash talking (with no gesturing or contact etc). Maybe the refs saw how physical the game was and wanted to try and squash it, but still seemed cheap to me. 

 

I like the edge he plays with. He plays under control like Donaldson, with that edge. 

[mustache eagle 2,410]

17 minutes ago, JwgreDeux said:

Without knowing exactly what was said, it looked like some home cooking to me. I couldn't tell you the last time i remember two techs getting called for trash talking (with no gesturing or contact etc). Maybe the refs saw how physical the game was and wanted to try and squash it, but still seemed cheap to me. 

 

I like the edge he plays with. He plays under control like Donaldson, with that edge. 

As you said … IMO The stripes were just trying to control the game.  And quite frankly it worked.  If anything, we benefited because arky lost their life and we continued our buzzsaw run with slightly subdued yapping 

We have a few guys that run that line between emotions and technicals.  Sometimes it’s worth … like when a coach gets T’d up to motivate his team or r make a statement to the refs.  Risk-reward sometimes 

[BizEagle 79]

Even Donaldson was getting pissed and started some trash talk too.  He normally lets his play do the talking and doesn't say much.  So he must have also thought Arky was getting a bit too flagrant.  There were a bunch of pull downs and cheap shots coming from Arky until the game got out of hand.  Broome got hooked at the top of the key but the zebra's didn't call it.  It didn't look like something that the officials could have missed, very obvious.

[NCAubs 377]

5 hours ago, KillenTime said:

May be the best player on the team.  It is at least debatable.  

I don’t have a strong argument for anyone else.  Some of the others have a higher ceiling but his ability to shoot, hops, defense, effort and attitude are making him a factor in every game. 

[steve99 13]

He has been fantastic this year but last night was not good.  Probably his worst performance of the season.

[KillenTime 127]

5 hours ago, steve99 said:

He has been fantastic this year but last night was not good.  Probably his worst performance of the season.

I agree.  Tough night for him and Aden (after the first two shots).  But excellent night for Jaylin and KD.   It is great to have guys step up.  Loved the edge Johni showed late.  He tends to play a little too laid back for me most of the time.  Loved the intensity at crunch time.