ATLANTA — Of the four programs playing in the Sweet 16 in Atlanta, Auburn is the closest to State Farm Arena. With the campus only around two hours from Atlanta, Auburn should have a big fan turnout.
But the No. 1 seed Tigers also have four players who played high school basketball in Georgia: Miles Kelly from Parkview High School, Ja’Heim Hudson from Wheeler High School and Drake and Dylan Cardwell, brothers who played at McEachern High School.
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Both Kelly and Hudson stayed home to start their college careers at Georgia Tech and Georgia State respectively. During a practice on Thursday, Kelly explained why he made the decision to transfer.
“Georgia Tech, I have nothing but love for them. I’m grateful for my three years there. I wouldn’t change it,” Kelly said Thursday. “But I like Auburn and I decided to get into the portal. And the main thing for me here was just the roster construction and I wanted to win ... I mean, this season, we’ve been the No. 1 team in the country. We’re in the Sweet 16 right now, so I made the best choice I could possibly make.”
Kelly said that he has gotten plenty of text messages and Instagram direct messages for tickets and tried his best to get what he could.
The guard knows what it’s like to play in front of a home crowd at State Farm Arena.
“I played here when I was like, when it was Phillips Arena, and I was maybe like 6 years old. My AAU program, Hoops City, they put together a group and we got to play at halftime on half courts when we was real young. So I mean I think those clips are still on YouTube. If you search up Miles Kelly Hoop City, you’ll see me playing on the Hawks court when I was real young.”
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Hudson said he is also grateful to play in front of his loved ones and getting the chance to show off Atlanta to his teammates again.
Auburn played in the Holiday Hoopsgiving back in November. Hudson expects the Auburn crowd to show up again.
“Playing in Atlanta is just like playing in Auburn, I ain’t gonna lie. Like we know the Auburn family gonna show out. We played here earlier in the season, and it was crazy. The crowd was electrifying. So now that we’re the Sweet 16, we got a lot on the line. I know they’re gonna show up,” he said.
Friday’s game will be Auburn’s sixth Sweet 16 appearance in program history. If they win, it will be the Tigers’ third-ever trip to the Elite 8.
The winner of Auburn versus Michigan will play the winner of Michigan State versus Ole Miss.
For the other teams playing in Atlanta, Michigan State’s Coen Carr and Mississippi’s Robert Cowherd were born in Georgia but played high school basketball in another state.
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