Samir Doughty wouldn't say who, obviously, but a Richmond player approached him as the Spiders took a timeout during Auburn's second-half explosion Tuesday night.

The player bluntly said to Doughty, "Y'all are just killing us right now." And that's not the first time an opposing player has expressed his frustrations in the second half of a loss to the Tigers.

"I knew once he said that," Doughty said postgame. "Normally each and every team we’ve been playing throughout the year have been saying that around the second half. And once he said that, I just told my guys, ‘Let’s keep our foot on the pedal and keep the scoring up a little bit more and get those other guys who aren’t really playing into the game.'"

It was that kind of night again for No. 18 Auburn, which shot 50 percent in the second half to erase slim deficit at the break and defeat Richmond, 79-65 to win the 2019 Legends Classic.

“It was big," Doughty said. "We knew we were going to play against great opponents whether it was Wisconsin or Richmond, and with New Mexico, we knew it was going to be tough getting wins in here and we were going to be battle tested."

Auburn is 7-0 for the first time in the Bruce Pearl era, and it's starting to receive national recognition after every game, being called the SEC's best team early in the season.

Doughty himself is also being heralded as the go-to scorer on a team that lost its top three offensive options from last year. Against Richmond, Doughty had his fourth 20-plus-point outing of the season, scoring 22.

The former VCU transfer is now averaging 19.5 points per game, making him the SEC's third-leading scorer nearly a month into the season.

“I worked hard throughout this offseason and I knew the opportunities that I was going to have on the floor tonight," Doughty said. I just tried to stay fundamental and keep making the simple plays."

After the Richmond win, Auburn jumped to No. 14 in KenPom, and its toughest game left by that metric is No. 41 NC State at home next month.

And the SEC schedule is a different beast. Auburn will learn a lot more about itself on that first Saturday of the conference slate — Jan. 4 on the road against Mississippi State.

But for now, Doughty believes that if he and his teammates play their style of ball every night, they can take down anyone in their path.

"If we just defend and keep sharing the ball, I feel like we can beat anyone in the country," he said.

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