Denzel Aberdeen Returns in New Blue Uniform
Florida basketball’s meeting with the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday serves as a homecoming for former Gator and national champion Denzel Aberdeen.
Less than a month after Florida became 2025 NCAA Champions, the senior guard inked his future with the SEC rivals. Aberdeen shocked Gator Nation, as he was expected to fill a starting role following the departures of senior guards Walter Clayton Jr., Will Richard and Alijah Martin for the NBA.
The Orlando native averaged 7.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists as a role player for the reigning SEC champions. Aberdeen shone in the spotlight as a starter after Clayton and Richard were injured, averaging 14.4 points in five games.
From there, Aberdeen was inserted in the rotation off the bench, and even scored the last point for the team in the national championship on a free throw to put the Gators ahead 65-63.
His averages rose to 12.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 24 games played as a starting guard at Kentucky.
“I think he’s a pretty similar player, he’s doing well, shooting the ball really well right now,” Golden said.
Aside from a backcourt of transfer guards Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee, the Gators frontcourt and coaching staff can expect flashbacks of last year’s practices when facing their former teammate.
Following a season-ending shoulder surgery for Wildcat guard Jaland Lowe, Aberdeen rose to the occasion in the open playmaking role, leading the team in assists in four of their last eight games.
“He always valued the basketball pretty well,” Golden said. “I think the area that he’s been kind of taking his game up a notch this year is the way he’s been shooting the ball, both off the catch and off the bounce.”
Aberdeen’s improvement in these areas mirrors the success of the team, which is top five in both field goal percentage and three-point percentage in the conference. No. 25 Kentucky (17-7, 8-3 SEC) has won eight out of its last nine and enters Gainesville one week removed from its last game.
The recent success of the rivals combined with the tension from the transfer does not faze the No. 1 team in the SEC.
“We are treating this game like any other game,” Golden said.
Florida (18-6, 9-2) has won nine out of their last 10 games, all in conference. The challenge looms as an opportunity for the defense that has not given up 80 points in their last six games.
Aberdeen comes back to the O’Dome in a not-so-romantic return, as the Gators are favored by 11.5 points.
Category: Basketball, College Basketball, Gators Men's Basketball, SEC
