Nick Saban's daughter Kristen Saban takes subtle dig at Auburn as Bruce Pearl's crew faces devastating loss against Yale: "A full mental breakdown"
The No. 4 seed Auburn Tigers went down 78-76 to the 13th-seeded Ivy League champions, the Yale Bulldogs, in their first-round March Madness clash on Friday. The loss came after a shooting onslaught by Bulldogs guard John Poulakidas, who finished the contest with 28 points.
The Southeastern Conference champions were favorites for the clash. Alabama Crimson Tide fans enjoyed the outspoken Bruce Pearl-coached team's loss as the two programs share an intense sporting rivalry across different sports.
One fan enjoyed it more than the others. Kristen Saban, daughter to former Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban, is a passionate Bama fan and is staunchly anti-Auburn. After the game, she took a dig at the Tigers on her X account.
She quote-posted a post that said:
"There's just something about watching Auburn lose when it matters & watching their fans have a breakdown on this app," the user wrote.
Saban reposted it with the message:
"A full mental breakdown."
While Kristen seems to have deleted the post now, she did continue to make fun of the Tigers with a meme:
The scale of the Auburn loss to Yale
The scale of the loss that the Tigers endured Friday night when they lost to the Yale Bulldogs was immediately apparent when it's considered that it was only the Ivy League champion's second-ever win at an NCAA Tournament, with the first one coming against the Baylor Bears in 2016.
According to a Front Office Sports report, the Bulldogs spent $1.5 million on their men's basketball program last year, while the Tigers spent $13.8 million, showing the disparity between the teams.
With 7:27 remaining on the clock, Auburn held a 10-point lead that was quickly reeled in by the Bulldogs, with John Poulakidas hitting a clutch 3-pointer with 2:11 remaining to grab the 73-72 lead.
Guard Chad Baker-Mazara was assessed as a flagrant foul and ejected from the game after just three minutes for elbowing a Yale Bulldogs player, a decision coach Bruce Pearl blamed for the outcome during his postgame news conference.
"It was inappropriate. Clearly a Flagrant 1," Pearl said. "The fact that it was elevated to a Flagrant 2 was a decision that the official had to make, but it obviously had tremendous impact on the outcome."
The loss continued a trend of March Madness underperformance by the Tigers after exiting in the second round of the last two editions.
Some punters had predicted a potential upset by Auburn over the reigning champions, the UConn Huskies, in a potential Sweet 16 matchup, but the Tigers did not even survive the first weekend.