Heading into the 2023-24 Auburn basketball season fans knew what to expect from Johni Broome and Jaylin Williams but wondered the rest of the roster would bring.
Cleary a non-forward was going to have to step up and help Auburn score some points and the player who had done that has been JUCO transfer Chad Baker-Mazara.
On the season, Baker-Mazara is averaging 10.4 points per game to go with three rebounds and 2.3 assists. He is shooting 45.7% from the field and 43.9% from deep on the season. Over these past five games, the Auburn newcomer has averaged 15.4 points per game to go with 4.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists. The best part of this is how Baker-Mazara is 9-14 from deep in these five games for a whooping percentage of 64.
Coach Bruce Pearl had this to say about his team before the matchup with Missouri, "I like where they're at," Pearl said. "I like where we're at right now for a couple reasons. I think that we know how to defend and, we know how to communicate, and we know that we can make it difficult for opponents. I think we've guarded well most every night. This has been one of the better defensive teams I've had."
Coach Pearl talked a lot about defense before the matchup with Missouri, and Baker-Mazara is a player who works really hard on that end of the floor. If the 6'7 guard/wing can keep playing like this, the Auburn Tigers will make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the Final Four run.
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