Heading into Saturday, the last two games for Auburn had been anything but fun as the Tigers had lost to both Missouri and Georgia on the road. After No. 13 Auburn’s come-from-behind, 73-66 win over Tennessee, the team promptly got back to its fun-loving ways after the final buzzer.
Head coach Bruce Pearl and his team danced at mid court, and senior guard Samir Doughty showed how much of a “fun guy” he could be in his postgame presser. The guard did his best impression of NBA superstar Kawhi Leonard by moving the water bottle that was placed on the table in front of him out of the way and jokingly said, ‘I’m not sponsored by them.’ Leonard recently did this same act in a serious manner after the NBA All-Star Game.
Doughty had every reason to joke around following the win as he stuffed the stat sheet with a team-leading 22 points while shooting 7-of-16 from the field. He also recorded four rebounds, three assists and three steals in the contest, but maybe most importantly he finished the game with just a single turnover.
While the guard had a respectable first half with eight points and two steals, it did not tell the whole story as he went 2-of-8 from the field. Auburn struggled in the first half shooting 34.5% from the field and went 3-of-14 from 3-point range.
The poor shooting performance had the Tigers down 41-33 to the Volunteers heading into the locker room at the end of the first half. Pearl was fired up at his team after the first half performance and let them hear about it according to Doughty.
“Yeah, yeah, he kicked everybody out of the locker room but the players,” Doughty said. “So, I mean, when it gets like that, we know how serious he is. And he was passionate in what he was saying. I mean, we knew where he was coming from, the things that what he was saying. It wasn't like he just was making things up. Like, he's telling us this, and he's a certain way because we wasn't responding how we was supposed to respond. We knew we had to have a different second-half.”
While Pearl let his team hear it at halftime, the situation seemed to go from bad to worse to start the second half as the Volunteer lead ballooned to 17 with 14:31 to go in the game.
Doughty refused to give up as the guard went on to score 14 points in the second half on 5-of-8 shooting from the field. The Tigers' leading scorer was aggressive when Auburn needed him to be in the second half, scoring 10 points during an 18-0 stretch that gave Auburn its lead back.
“I was just being aggressive,” Doughty said. “I really don't worry about who's defending me. I knew I had to be aggressive when we was down, and we're without one of our better players right now, and we know that. He's [Okoro’s] a guy that we go to for mismatches and driving the lane, so I knew I had to step up at that moment.”
Doughty not only stepped up on the court helping Auburn improve to 23-4 and 10-4 in the SEC, but also, made time for the fans following the game as he stopped to give his headband to some young fans and snap some photos.
Auburn still has four games left not including the SEC Tournament and beyond, but for now Doughty and the Tigers will continue having fun while they can according to Pearl.
“The way Samir Doughty and J’Von McCormick stepped up and played on both ends of the floor made the difference,” Pearl said. “We’ll celebrate this one, having lost two in a row. I kind of felt like our backs were against the wall a little bit. Down 17, adversity reveals character.”
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