A Purdue player got an Auburn defender in the air and thought he was clear to lay up the ball for a basket. Chad Baker-Mazara had other plans.

The Auburn guard/forward rejected the Boilermaker's shot so massively that it might have landed in Hoover by the time it landed.

It wasn't the only defensive play the senior made in No. 2 Auburn's 87-69 pounding of No. 16 Purdue. A few minutes earlier in the first half, as the Tigers' suffocating defense made life difficult for Matt Painter's squad, Baker-Mazara swatted away a jump shot to force a clock shot violation. It was just another possession for Purdue where it could not get anything done, and the Dominican Republic native was a massive part of why.

"Chad Baker-Mazara is instinctively one of the best players in our league," Bruce Pearl said. "He just flat out is, and he impacts the game in so many ways."

Baker-Mazara filled every stat in the box score for the Tigers, finishing with eight points, six assists, five rebounds, four steals, two blocks and only one turnover. His best assist came early in the second half as he found Johni Broome for a lob to give Auburn a 47-26 lead and force Painter to call a timeout.

"Chad is a huge part of our team," Johni Broome said. "A lot of people may not see the little things he does, but having a 6-foot-7 wing that can come off ball screens and throw lobs and at the same time, like you said, get a backdoor cut, finish on the other side of the rim."

But as Pearl pointed out, it was on both sides of the floor where Baker-Mazara makes a difference. Broome sees that as well.

"And then on the defensive side, being in passing lanes and getting blocks," the center said. "It's not that many people in the country if there is one on the wing position. I'd say he brings the energy as well on the offensive side. He wants to be a 4, 5 man so badly. He wants to guard fours, guard fives. He thinks he can post up all day long. He's a bucket. That's just how he is as a player, so when he got the block, it was just fun to see his reaction because he always talks about it."

But ever the realist, Broome had to acknowledge something else about his teammate.

"Chad's a little crazy, first off," he said.

Opposing teams are finding that out.