Everything Denzel Aberdeen, Will Richard said following the Gators' SEC semifinals win
Florida was down — and down big — Saturday before rallying to knock off Texas A&M 95-90 in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn. Afterward, two of the Gators’ stars in the game — guards Denzel Aberdeen (20 points) and Will Richard (19) spoke to the media. Here are their postgame quotes, courtesy of ASAP Sports.
On Denzel Aberdeen’s career-high performance for the Florida Gators …
Denzel Aberdeen: “It felt great. My teammates always believed in me throughout practices, games. Just saying, Keep going, keep going. Without them, this wouldn’t be possible, putting me in the right spots, always believing in me, keep my head up. Just go out there and have fun, just be ready for whenever my position is called. Just go out there and play hard, do that.”
Will Richard: “Yeah, I’m proud of Denzel. I mean, he’s one of the hardest workers I know. You never hear him complain about minutes or anything. He just stays the course. He works hard. He kills it every day in practice. I’m not surprised to see him come out here and do this. We’re proud of him. Everybody believed in him. We knew he could do it. I’m just proud to see it come to fruition.”
On Aberdeen getting open looks due to the Aggies’ doubling of other Gators …
Denzel Aberdeen: “Tyrese (Samuel), (Alex Condon) and them, when they was getting trapped, I just told them in the huddle to look out for the skips, and me and Will on the other side was being ready for shoot. That comes from practice, we always rep those out. We was able to hit them today.”
On what clicked during the Florida Gators’ comeback after falling behind by 18 …
Will Richard: “Yeah, for us it was just like getting adjusted how the game was being played. We know they’re a physical team. I feel like we came in a little too lackadaisical. For us, how the refs were calling the game and stuff like that, just make sure we limited their free throw attempts. For us, getting back to what we wanted to do in offense, transition, clean rebounds, play how we play.”
Denzel Aberdeen: “Coming together in that second half. No one put their head down. We were all together. We just said we have to fight to come back the second half, do everything we had to do to come back. That’s what we did.”
On showing poise down the stretch with a lead …
Denzel Aberdeen: “We went into practice after that same game talking about it. We just repped like staying strong, holding the ball strong, trying not to get no turnovers or nothing. Yeah, that’s what we did.”
Will Richard: “Like Zel said, we came into practice and focused on it. Just practiced it in game reps. It paid off today.”
On how much progress the Florida Gators have made since last season …
Will Richard: ” eah, for me it’s a whole different energy with just being a part of this team. I feel like everybody has bought in. Everybody wants to be here. Everybody has one goal, and that’s to win. We’re doing whatever it takes to do that.”
Denzel Aberdeen: ” Same like Will said. Everybody this year has brought in, all put together, and we all gel together very good outside of basketball. I think that’s a big part. When we come in, we fight for each other, know what we have to do for each other.”
