On Friday, the Auburn Tigers men’s basketball team was scheduled to depart for Houston for its biggest matchup of the season so far on Saturday night against the Houston Cougars. However, things didn’t go to plan, which led to one post from the Auburn social media team aging about as poorly as possible.
Prior to their flight, a number of Auburn players posed for pictures which would be used in a post on X with the caption “liftoff”.
liftoff 🚀 pic.twitter.com/EHLjJAjpNd
— Auburn Basketball (@AuburnMBB) November 8, 2024
The only problem is that “liftoff” for the Tigers basketball team was far more brief than they had probably planned.
In one of the more bizarre stories of the young college basketball season, multiple college basketball reporters took to social media to report on an altercation just after the flight departed, resulting in the flight returning back to Auburn just 45 minutes after taking off.
Auburn plane returned back home due to horseplay between players on the flight that could have escalated into a fight, source told @TheFieldOf68.
Auburn was about 45 minutes en route and had to return home. Source said they are expected to take another plane to Houston later…
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) November 9, 2024
According to Connor Noonan, there were three players involved, including Chad Baker-Mazara, Drake Caldwell, and Dylan Caldwell.
SOURCE: Soon after the Auburn men’s basketball team’s flight took off, a physical altercation took place between Chad Baker-Mazara and the Cardwell brothers (Drake and Dylan). The three players had to be restrained as the flight landed back in Auburn. More to come.
— Connor Noonan (@ConnorNoonanCBB) November 8, 2024
If the name Chad Baker-Mazara rings a bell, it may be because he was ejected from the team’s Round of 64 matchup against Yale in last year’s NCAA Tournament after elbowing an opposing player in the ribs. So there already seems to be a bit of a reputation involved when it comes to Baker-Mazara as a player.
Auburn starter Chad Baker-Mazara was ejected three minutes into the game vs Yale due to a flagrant 2 foul.
Rules analyst Gene Steratore supported the ruling: “Excessive in nature, completely unnecessary, not a basketball play… I think it’s a good decision by the officials.”… pic.twitter.com/At8t0ewIBe
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 22, 2024
Given the post hours before, college basketball fans got a good laugh out of the drama going on with the Tigers.
“Can’t wait to see the after pics,” joked longtime Auburn sportswriter Bryan Matthews in a post on X.
Can’t wait to see the after pics https://t.co/EkuoknFzoT
— Bryan Matthews (@BMattAU) November 9, 2024
“Yeah, about that,” wrote Kevin Scarbinsky of The Birmingham Lede.
Yeah, about that … https://t.co/BtW1z8cqas
— Kevin Scarbinsky (@KevinScarbinsky) November 9, 2024
“Houston, you have a problem,” wrote Stuart Donald of Sip and Chew with Mike and Stu on 106.5 FM.
Houston, you have a problem. https://t.co/V9CkkQshat
— StuartDonald (@StuartDonald) November 8, 2024
This kind of incident really couldn’t have come at a worse time for Bruce Pearl’s team as it gets ready to face an extremely talented Houston team. But at least it did produce some laughs ahead of the highly anticipated game.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.