Denzel Aberdeen has been playing the best basketball of his career during January. Kentucky needs him to close out the month strong to regain lost momentum.
Through eight games this month, all against SEC competition, Aberdeen is averaging 13.6 points and 2.9 assists in 30.4 minutes per outing as the Wildcats’ fill-in point guard. He’s shooting 40 percent from deep and 84.6 percent from the free-throw line during this stretch. Considering he’s played out of position for most of the season, it’s been impressive to see the senior guard adapt to his new role after some early ups and downs.
“He is definitely taking major jumps in just his comfort level with how he’s playing,” Head coach Mark Pope said of Aberdeen on Thursday.
Aberdeen is clearly more confident as Kentucky’s new point guard than he was even a month ago. After a couple of seven-point outings to begin SEC play, he began to hit his stride. Over his next four games, all wins, he averaged 18.5 points and 2.8 assists per game, including a massive shot down the stretch against Tennessee. He settled in as a facilitator in the win over Ole Miss (6 points, 5 assists), before being one of just two Wildcats with more than five points (15 for himself) in a rough blowout loss to Vanderbilt.
“His ball screen numbers are ridiculous right now,” Pope said. “He’s like a 1.15 points per possession as a ball screen ball handler, that’s crazy. That’s on high volume. His ability to score the ball has been great. I think he’s had some really special moments defensively. He’s got a pretty unique skill about his choice through traffic, the routes he takes, he can be really good. I think his voice is trying to emerge a little bit but he’s had a terrific month for us.”
Aberdeen hasn’t been a perfect player against SEC competition (specifically, he tends to hold onto the ball too long at times), but the current reality remains that Kentucky is a better team when he’s on the floor than when he’s not. Per CBB Analytics, UK is a +27 in league play when he’s on the floor and a -21 when he’s on the bench. Kentucky’s four most-used lineups in conference action all feature Aberdeen — and all of them have produced positive plus/minus numbers.
“He makes big shots,” Arkansas assistant coach Kenny Payne said of Aberdeen on Friday. “When he’s playing well, they’re a pretty good team. When he’s playing well — I shouldn’t say pretty good, they’re an elite team — they have beat teams in our conference based off his play… He’s an elite guard.”
Going into Saturday’s road showdown against a talented group of Arkansas guards, the Wildcats will need another big outing from the former Florida transfer to close out the month strong.