Jaland Lowe excited for BBN to see what Denzel Aberdeen can do in new role

At this stage in the offseason, it feels like we can, at the very least, pencil in Denzel Aberdeen as one of the starting five pieces to begin the season for Mark Pope‘s 2025-26 Kentucky men’s basketball team.

While we don’t know that for sure at this very moment, we can use some clues to get us there. Aberdeen turned down a return to Florida, where he was an important role player during the Gators’ national title run, in favor of spending his final college season in Lexington. His former head coach, Todd Golden, all but said Aberdeen transferred to Kentucky for more money and a bigger opportunity. Aberdeen averaged 7.7 points in 19.5 minutes per game off the bench last season — he’ll be expecting both of those numbers to increase this season.

But another piece of evidence we can use as a way to justify Aberdeen’s likely starting role is from a video the Kentucky MBB posted to social media on Tuesday. The dance moves of freshman Jasper Johnson are the headline, but posing for pictures in the background in full uniform are five players: Jaland Lowe, Otega Oweh, Brandon Garrison, Mo Dioubate, and Aberdeen.

.@BruhJasperJ is always up to something 🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/a9OW12xBQK

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) September 17, 2025

Lowe and Oweh are locks as starters, Dioubate feels like another player we can pencil (if not pen) into the lineup, and Garrison is the obvious choice to start the season while Jayden Quaintance recovers from his ACL injury. That leaves some discussion to be had for the last spot.

There are plenty of ways Pope can fill that fifth and final starting position on the wing. Sophomores Kam Williams and Collin Chandler have generated plenty of offseason buzz, and the same can be said for Trent Noah, too. But Aberdeen is the veteran of that group with championship-level experience. That’s tough to match. Someone like him doesn’t pass up a potential starting job for the defending national champs to come off the bench from day one at another school.

Aberdeen has seemingly been putting in the necessary work behind the scenes to make sure he’s ready to be that fifth starter, too. Pope said last month he struggles to keep Aberdeen out of the practice gym. During The Field of 68’s takeover of Kentucky men’s basketball earlier this week, Rob Dauster and Jeff Goodman asked all of the Wildcats they interviewed who stood out this summer.

Lowe, the expected on-court leader of this group, went with Aberdeen.

“For me, I feel like, even though he was on a championship team, Denzel Aberdeen,” Lowe said. “I played against him my freshman year at Barclays (Center), and playing against him that year, I felt like even then he was a guy that had a real special talent. Even though he wasn’t able to display it all last year, he still embraced his role and did very well. But the way that he’s playing right now and the way that we see his talent is immersive right now. It’s incredible to see, and I’m super happy for the season coming up for everybody to see that.”

A super athlete at 6-foot-5 with a 42-inch vertical, Aberdeen hit his stride last season while filling in as a starter for Florida across a five-game span during SEC play. His averages? 14.4 points, 2.6 assists, and 2.4 rebounds in 29.8 minutes per outing while shooting 42.9 percent from the field and 41.4 percent from deep. If he can get close to those numbers as a full-time starter this season, Kentucky will be in good shape.

Join KSR Plus! With a KSR Plus membership, you get access to bonus content and KSBoard, KSR’s message board, to chat with fellow Cats fans and get exclusive scoop.