Denzel Aberdeen is having the best basketball season of his career, and he knows 'the job's not finished.'
For Aberdeen, this is all new territory. He's in his final regular season of college basketball, with just one more true road game and a final outing at Rupp Arena before the SEC and NCAA Tournaments. He's doing it all as Kentucky's starting point guard, a role he never expected to have when he transferred from Florida last offseason, taking over after Jaland Lowe's season-ending shoulder surgery.
There were some early hiccups, as one might expect given the difficult circumstances and lineup inconsistencies, but the senior guard has since rounded into form as a true game-changer at the position. Over his last 13 games in the blue and white, he's hit the double-figure mark 11 times while averaging 15.1 points and just 1.2 turnovers per contest.
When he thinks about his expectations when he announced his commitment to the Wildcats compared to this new reality, he can't help but laugh.
'Very different,' Aberdeen said of his role transition. 'I thank God every day. I'm just going in, learning new things, getting better at my craft, so I can't complain.'
Mark Pope said last week that the Florida transfer was playing like one of the best at his position in the entire SEC — a conference littered with elite guard play. Considering his anticipated role as the Robin to Lowe's Batman and a do-it-all complementary option among primary ball handlers, Aberdeen deserves all the credit in the world.
He followed it up with another 15-point, four-rebound, four-assist, zero-turnover, 37-minute effort in a double-digit ranked win.
'He's been a top-level point guard in this league,' Pope said. 'Which is incredible considering that he didn't walk into the season as a point guard. It's really hard to do. I'm so proud of him. And he continues to grow every single game.'
Aberdeen is admittedly proud of his own growth and grateful for all the help he's received along the way to get to this point. He quipped that he wished he hadn't played a part in so many losses as the starting point guard, but they finally figured things out at the right time — and not a minute too soon with the postseason set to begin next week.
He's playing well and it's leading to victories.
'Yeah, I think I'm doing all right at it right now,' Aberdeen said of taking over as the go-to floor general. 'I just gotta keep it going — but shoutout to the coaches. They've been helping me each and every day. I feel like each and every day I'm improving, just learning things out there, watching film. Just doing what I can for this team to win.'
Coming off six straight games of 14-plus points, one of the stats going around about his recent play is the fact that he's turned it over just once in his last four outings — that one coming in the team's loss at Auburn — compared to 16 total assists.
Aberdeen joked, though, that the stat should be a 16-to-0 assist-to-turnover ratio in that stretch, and he's working on getting that corrected in the official books. He'll take 16-to-1 in the meantime, though, and he's pleased with the ball security overall.
'I think that one turnover they gave me, it was actually Malachi's fault,' he told KSR. 'I actually — I showed him on the film, he tried to throw me a pass. So I gotta email ESPN or somebody for that one.
'But, nah, I definitely just try to take care of the ball as much as I can. Try to find my teammates in certain situations.'
It all clicked for him once he was left with no choice but to figure things out as PG1 the rest of the way, knowing the team needed him to take over the role and as a leader if the Wildcats were serious about winning anything of substance. There was no looking over his shoulder or wondering how many minutes or touches he'd get — the weight was all on him, ready or not.
That paved the path for him to become arguably the team's most valuable player entering March.
'Probably in the middle of the season — when I knew Jaland Lowe was gonna be out for good, really,' Aberdeen said of the individual flip. 'I just knew what I had to do and basically step into more of a leadership role, talk to my teammates and stuff like that. Get together with my coaches and find out what to do in certain situations on the court.
'And I think once I got that down a little bit more and more each game, each and every game, I started to improve more and more and started to feel what I gotta do out there.'
He came in with a national championship ring as Florida's sixth man a year ago, helping the Gators play their best basketball of the season off the bench. Now, it's time for him to do the same as the lead guard at Kentucky as the Wildcats push for their first Final Four since 2015.
It's quite the journey for the Orlando native down to his last week of regular season basketball in college.
'It's crazy, the year went by kind of fast, but I've been blessed and amazed by everything that's been going on here,' Aberdeen told KSR. 'I'm very thankful for Kentucky for allowing me to be here, and it's been nothing but an amazing season.
'Just the group of guys that we have, the guys that we've been working with, the coaching staff, all the bonds that I've created since I've been here, it's been nothing but amazing.
'I'm forever grateful to be here — and we know the job's not finished. We've got a couple more.'
