ATLANTA – Celebrating No. 1 overall seed Auburn’s win over Creighton in the locker room at Rupp Arena, Miles Kelly quickly turned his attention to an impending homecoming.
“To be able to go back to The A in a moment like this for the Sweet 16, it’s everything I dreamed of,” said Kelly, an Atlanta native who played his first three college basketball seasons two miles north of State Farm Arena at Georgia Tech. “I can’t wait to get there.”
Kelly, who leads Auburn with 84 3-pointers, and his Tiger teammates arrived in Atlanta Wednesday evening before practicing Thursday afternoon for Friday’s matchup with fifth-seed Michigan in South Region semifinals.
“It means everything,” Kelly said Thursday, flanked by teammates Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell at the NCAA Tournament press conference. “This is a full circle moment for me to be in March Madness, Sweet 16, and come to Atlanta and play and have a chance to go to the Elite Eight and Final Four in Atlanta. It's just a blessing, and I'm super grateful for this opportunity.”
Long considered a tournament dominated by guard play, Friday’s contest could be decided closer to the basket, where Auburn’s bigs – Cardwell, Broome and Chaney Johson – will clash with Michigan 7-footers Vlad Goldin and Danny Wolf.
“You have to enjoy the moment,” Broome said. “This is the Sweet 16. We're going up against two 7-footers. It's going to be fun. Everybody in that locker room is looking forward to the matchup. Our front line is looking forward to the matchup.”
“These two guys are special,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said of the Wolverines. “Goldin, in the Big Ten he was the best player on the floor almost every single night.
“And Wolf, there's not another 7-footer in college basketball that resembles him. He's got Larry Bird type ball handling, passing, feel. He's just a gifted, gifted player. Obviously, they work beautifully together.
“They're going up against Dylan Cardwell and Johni Broome and Chaney Johnson, those three guys are going to be the focus of our defensive attack. Our ability to defend those two guys as well as No. 42 (Will Tschetter) comes off the bench and shoots it a little bit for them, is going to be really the difference in the outcome.”
Auburn fans, accustomed to packing State Farm Arena each season for the Holiday Hoopsgiving game, could give the Tigers a home-court advantage of sorts against the Wolverines.
“I feel like we’re going to play with the utmost confidence because we’ve played here before and we had a great night here,” said Denver Jones, referencing Auburn’s 91-53 win over Ohio State Dec. 14 in Atlanta. “I know our guys are going to come in more confident, especially in our shooting ability.”
Seeking to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2019, No. 1 seed Auburn (30-5) plays No. 5 seed Michigan (27-9) Friday at 8:39 p.m. CT on CBS. Andy Burcham and Randall Dickey will handle play-by-play and analysis on the Auburn Sports Network.
“Michigan is as good as anybody in this field,” Pearl said. “For the first and second round for a No. 1 seed, it is about survive and advance for the top seeds. You get to this point, we feel like we're playing for a national championship now, and we have four times we're going to have to do it.”
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer