ATLANTA | Auburn and Michigan don't cross paths often in basketball. In fact, the Tigers and Wolverines have only met once on the hardwood.

But heading into the Sweet 16 matchup on Friday night in State Farm Arena, the two teams are more familiar with each other than history suggests.

You obviously start with Tre Donaldson, the Wolverines' guard who spent two seasons on the Plains playing in the orange-and-blue under Bruce Pearl. The Tallahassee, Fla., native decided to transfer this past offseason due to the opportunity he saw in Ann Arbor under new head coach Dusty May.

Donaldson has no hard feelings toward any of his former coaches or players; instead, he has stayed in touch with them during the past year after moving from Auburn to the Big Ten school. He's even talked to some teammates this week leading up to the showdown on Friday.

"Yeah, I talked to them after we won in Denver, and then they won," he said. "Johni and I got on the phone for a little bit. We didn't even talk about the game. We were just talking."

The guard has become a crucial player for the Wolverines during their run in the Big Ten and NCAA Tournament. Donaldson averages 11.2 points in Michigan's current five-game winning streak and hit the game-winning shot against Maryland in the Big 10 tourney semifinals.

Now, he goes up against several players who might know him better than anyone in college basketball. Asked about what it will be like to go up against Donaldson, Denver Jones was adamant that it will make him focus even more on his opponent.

"There's going to be more of a sense of urgency because he used to play here," the Auburn guard said. "He's a brother. We're trying to come out on top. I feel like it's gonna be a different level of locking in, and we're gonna be the more excited team to play."

Chad Baker-Mazara, another guy who went through battles with Donaldson last season, also looks forward to seeing him on the opposing end.

"I mean, it's exciting being able to share the court with a brother again," he said. "Sadly, he's wearing different colors."

And if the reunion with Donaldson isn't enough incentive for the No. 1 overall seed, there's also a chance at revenge against Michigan center Danny Wolf, who was part of the Yale team that upset the Tigers in the first round of last year's tournament.

"Obviously, it was an unbelievable game for Yale," Wolf said. "I want to think it was one of the highlights of my basketball career, an up-and-down game. We had a clear underdog mentality that game, but we knew how good we were, and we knew what we were capable of."

Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell are looking forward to getting another shot at Wolf after the early ouster last March.

"Danny Wolf is a great guy, great competitor, great human being and I'm excited to play," Cardwell said.

"He's a great seven-footer," Broome said. "He's very versatile."

The familiar faces will meet in a familiar place for Auburn. The Tigers routed Ohio State 91-53 on December 14 and have played in State Farm Arena at least once in the past five seasons. Against the Buckeyes, Auburn shot 45.8 percent from the floor and 43.3 percent from three.

How much confidence does that give the Tigers knowing they have put up a performance in the building before?

"I'm not banking on, 'Okay, we played good in this arena last time, so we're going to play good,'" Chaney Johnson said. "Nah, I mean game by game, and I mean, I feel like we are going to play good because we got a good scout."