Why was Sebastian Mack ejected? Looking at the UCLA guard's dirty play against Utah 

In Sunday's game against Utah, UCLA's Sebastian Mack received a flagrant foul 2 and was promptly ejected. The freshman appeared to slam his forearm/elbow into Utah's Branden Carlson's neck/chin in the first half, and the center seemingly took the impact heavily.

After a video review, the referees slapped a flagrant foul on Mack, who was automatically removed from the court Carlson stayed down, holding his neck before he was checked and walked off. However, he returned to score an offensive rebound at the buzzer to give Utah the win.

Sebastian Mack entered the game with an average of 13.5 points. As UCLA's leading scorer, his absence was felt immensely in the eventual 70-69 loss.

The loss was supposed to be the Bruins' 'revenge game'. On Jan 11, the Utes had handed UCLA their second-worst loss (90-44) in Salt Lake City.

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Coach and teammates comment on Mack's ejection

In a post-game interview, guard Lazar Stefanovic shared that he and the team knew that the rematch would be physical.

"They beat us pretty badly the first time, so we came in, we knew we had to be tough. They are also a physical team, so it's nothing crazy. It happens every game that teams are physical. I don't know what happened to Sebastian. I didn't see exactly what happened, but that's what happens sometimes with physical teams."

UCLA coach Mick Cronin chalked the loss to some "dumb fouls:"

"The reason we were winning was we stopped doing dumb stuff -- dumb fouls, in particular, and they were back tonight."

However, he refused to let Sebastian Mack's ejection as an excuse for the loss:

"Excuses are for losers. It was still five-on-five. It's not hockey. They weren't in a penalty. We got to sub somebody in. We didn't get the job done. That's on me. Sure, we would have liked to have him."

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Sebastian Mack's season so far with UCLA

Earlier in the season, Sebastian Mack was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week, which set the tone for his rookie year with the Bruins.

“I’m never satisfied," said Mack. "It’s still work that needs to be done. So I’m really focused and locked in with the team and working as a group and just getting better as a unit.”

As the leading scorer, Mack is averaging 13.1 points with 3.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists, shooting 39.7%. He put his career-high 27 points against Cal State on Dec 12, so the ejection is a tiny blot on Mack's otherwise impressive year.

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