Michigan basketball: Danny Wolf discusses Tre Donaldson, Auburn showdown in Sweet Sixteen

ATLANTA – The Michigan Wolverines are the underdogs and overlooked by most heading into Friday night’s showdown with the top-seeded Auburn Tigers in the Sweet Sixteen. Aside from the stakes on the line, the Tre Donaldson plot thread is a topic of conversation heading into the contest.

Donaldson played his first two years with the Tigers before transferring to Michigan last offseason. Now, the two sides meet for a trip to an Elite Eight on the line. Teammate Danny Wolf, who was on a Yale team last year that scored a first-round upset over Auburn and Donaldson, spoke about his point guard and the storyline heading into Friday night.

 ”Honestly not much,” Wolf said of Donaldson potentially talking about the Tigers ahead of the game. “I think he’s kind of looking past that type of… I don’t know what the term is for the type of game it is, but obviously we’re playing his former team. But obviously just nuances of teammates are [a part of it]. I’m sure he has helped the coaches with scouting a little bit, but in terms of mindset, I think it’s just a levelheaded game.”

Michigan is relishing the opportunity to go out and compete with the best in the country, as it has shown and ability to do all season long. They know the task will be tall on Friday night, but Wolf is looking forward to the potential of scoring two personal wins over Auburn in two years.

“Any opportunity to play a high-caliber team, you love it,” Wolf said. “It’s a high-level tournament game and we’re all very excited. They’re better than they were last year. They have a few new pieces. Getting to play this caliber of a team in the tournament, it’s something that we’re all excited for and looking forward to. And of course beating them twice would be great.”

Michigan comes into the game as one of the hottest teams in the country, winning its last five games that include a Big Ten Tournament title and two NCAA wins in Denver last weekend. Knowing that their season obituary had been written weeks ago makes it easier to get up for the giant moments.

 ”I think that underdog mentality has been rising over the last few weeks,” Wolf said. “People wrote our season off after our last regular-season game and here we are now. And yeah, I mean we’re underdogs in the game. It’s a five versus one, but we see it as just a regular game. We’re not looking at ourselves as underdogs and what not.

Wolf applied a Yale lesson to Michigan, weighs in on matchup with Johni Broome

Wolf and his Yale Bulldogs grabbed a 78-76 win over Auburn in the first round as the No. 13 seed last year. And for as painful as it can be to mention it to Donaldson, the 7-footer used it as a lesson ahead of last week’s win over 12th-seeded UC San Diego.

 ”The last few weeks I’ve kind of talked about that game just like from a sense of helping my teammates,” Wolf said. “Like last week, we were preparing to play a 12-seed, just talking about how we felt on the other side. We kind of mess with each other about it early on in the year, but it’s just a thing that’s just in the past now. We don’t really talk much about it.

Wolf and Michigan will be on high alert for likely National Player of the Year runner-up Johni Broome, who is an All-American and the straw that stirs the drink for the Tigers. How Michigan’s bigs match up with Broome and Dylan Cardwell is a major key to this game.

 ”He’s extremely fluid around the basket,” Wolf said of Broome. “Great touch around the rim, just a high level player. I’m excited for the matchup as that was last year and even more so now. I’m sure those bigs are excited for the matchup too. It is two of the best frontcourts in the country. Just with myself, Will [Tscehtter and Vlad [Goldin] and then obviously Johni and Dylan. Chaney Johnson’s a good big as well. We’re all very excited for the opportunity.”