With Jaland Lowe's status in question, Denzel Aberdeen is ready to take over PG1 duties: 'He's a hooper.'

There weren’t many bright spots in Kentucky‘s trip to Louisville, falling behind by as many as 20 points before a miraculous comeback gave the Wildcats a fighter’s chance — only to make one too many mistakes down the stretch to make the pain all the same. Between the horrific defense and “dumb effort,” as Mark Pope called it, the team performance just wasn’t good enough.

Individually, though, Denzel Aberdeen was very good, going for a team-high 26 points while adding seven rebounds, three assists, one steal and just one turnover in 31 minutes. He hit big shots and fought, the spark UK needed to both push and stay alive in momentum swings both directions. The Florida transfer looked like a guy who belonged on the floor at the final horn of the national championship game last spring.

It was easy to love everything he brought to the table in a game that really matters to this fanbase.

“Denzel is awesome, man. He is,” Pope said ahead of the Eastern Illinois game coming off the Louisville loss. “He’s pretty good about not carrying emotional weight around with him because you can during the course of a game. You can just start to pile on emotional weight, good and bad and sideways and all the things. He’s pretty good about not carrying a bunch of emotional weight. …

“He’s got a pretty special competitor’s heart where he just is — he’s a good model for our guys in the sense of he’s just on to the next thing. He’s not carrying a ton of baggage with him, and I think that’s one of the reasons why he functioned at a pretty high level in this game on the road. He’s pretty used to just moving on to the next play, next play, next play. That’s something our team will get really good at, but we’re not great at yet in a tough environment.”

Pope and Aberdeen didn’t know it at the time, but Jaland Lowe would reinjure his right shoulder at practice just hours later on Thursday, thrusting the senior guard back into the starting lineup as PG1 with Lowe’s long-term status up in the air. Aberdeen went for 13 points on 6-9 shooting with three rebounds, two steals and one assist in 23 minutes against EIU, and now, it’s safe to say it’ll be the same role for the former Gator under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden when the Wildcats take on Michigan State in the Champions Classic on Tuesday.

He found himself in a similar situation at Florida, starting in five games as a junior during the team’s title season. This isn’t new for Aberdeen.

“I feel good. I mean, at Florida, I had to back up another great guard (in Walter Clayton Jr.), so I just feel like I’ve been able to — I’ve been put in this position before,” the 6’5″ senior said Monday. “So I’ve just been being ready, sticking to my craft, and I was just doing what I can do for this team to win. So I just feel very comfortable.”

That was a three-headed monster in Gainesville, led by Clayton, plus Alijah Martin and Will Richard. He was the sixth man, part of the next wave that helped make the Gators so dominant in that 36-win campaign. What did he learn during that run to help prepare him for this moment?

“Just learning from them, hearing what they had to tell me when I was growing in my position, and I was just sticking to film, watching film a lot, other great guards in the league and stuff like that,” Aberdeen continued. “And then just implementing the offense that I can bring, just seeing where I can fit my style of play in the offense.”

We don’t know how long Lowe will be out, but in the meantime, Aberdeen is confident in his abilities on both ends of the floor as a proven leader and winner. Whether it’s a couple of games or the rest of the year, his job is to ensure the drop-off is insignificant or invisible.

His mindset isn’t changing, no matter his official job title.

“I just do whatever I feel like the game has brought to me. Just let my game come to me, whether it’s creating for my teammates or whether it’s scoring,” he said. “Whichever, however the game plays out — whichever one I’ll do. … I think I bring some length and physicality, just trying to disrupt the guard as much as I can. Limit him to points and limit him to creating for other people. 

“I just try to go out there and do my best 110%, give it my all, and I’ll just try to stop my man as much as possible.”

It’s early, obviously, but has there been an obvious change in Aberdeen leading the charge compared to Lowe? What are the similarities and differences?

Well, they’re both very good at what they do, for one. That’s really the only comparison that matters, and why his teammates are confident in the former Gator until the Pittsburgh transfer is ready to return — whenever that is, if he’s able to come back at all.

“I mean, they’re both really good point guards,” Malachi Moreno said. “I think Denzel kind of gives another scoring ability — I mean, we can all score. And Denzel’s just — he brings toughness, and he really sets the tone early. And he really just sets the flow of the game.”

The Wildcats aren’t approaching this period of uncertainty with doubt, that’s for sure. Aberdeen is more than capable as the primary ball handler in Kentucky’s title push, garnering total trust among his peers.

Getting Lowe back is preferred, obviously, but if this is the new reality the rest of the way, check ball.

“He’s a hooper, bro. Denzel is — I mean, he’s ready for it,” Moreno said. “I trust the ball in his hands 100% out of 100%. With the ball in his hands, we can do a lot of damage.”