Denzel Aberdeen was that 100th kid and the Florida Gators are fortunate to (still) have him.
“It’s not supposed to be easy. That’s what my parents kept telling me,” Aberdeen, the 6-foot-5, 190-pound junior guard said of the Division-I experience. “They said, ‘You have to go through hard times in life. Stick it out. Push through.’ They said it would make me a better player, but also a better man.”
For most in Aberdeen’s high tops these words of real-life perspective would sound like Swahili. Let’s be real. The notion of looking in the mirror instead of looking elsewhere goes against everything that’s come to be expected in this new age of collegiate sports, which last year saw close to 2,000 men’s D-1 players enter the portal.
But Aberdeen chose a different rout and thus became a nostalgic nod – a “throwback,” even – to the way things used to be; when young players who struggled with the transition from high school to the next level worked and developed their way through a program until they became older, more experienced players who found their role.
“We’re all proud of him,” senior guard Will Richard said of the teammate they call “Zel,” for short. “He took the hard road to get where he wanted to go.”
[Read senior writer Chris Harry’s “Pregame Stuff” setup here]
This week, his real-world approach will have Aberdeen playing a pivotal Thanksgiving Day role in his hometown in front of family and friends when No. 18 UF (6-0) takes on Wake Forest (6-1) in opening-round play of the ESPN Events Invitational at Wide World of Sports. The tournament, a two-day, four-team affair, will be played about 20 minutes from where Aberdeen grew up on Orlando’s east side and about 10 minutes from Dr. Phillips High, the school Aberdeen helped lead to the 2021 Class 7A crown by scoring 27 points in the state-championship game.
Welcome home, kid.
“He could have taken the easy way out and transferred to somewhere he was guaranteed something, but one of the reasons we’ve been so bullish on Zel is because that was not what he did,” Gators coach Todd Golden said. “He did not want anything promised to him, other than the opportunity to compete. It’s just something – his approach – that we all respected a lot and it speaks to his character that he stuck it out.”
When the Gators, looking for their first 7-0 start in 12 years, take the floor at State Farm Arena, Aberdeen will be locked into his role as the first guard off the bench. He averaging 7.0 points and 2.4 rebounds over his 18.4 minutes, while shooting 35.7 percent from the 3-point line. Those are much higher (much more satisfying) numbers than Aberdeen’s first two seasons, when he played in just 44 of UF’s 69 games and averaged only 2.8 points and 8.0 minutes.
His freshman season, with 21 DNP/Coach’s Decisions and just 14 field-goal attempts, was truly brutal for a prospect with such high hopes. Aberdeen, who played alongside former UF guard Riley Kugel (now at Mississippi State) and 6-11, 250-pound Kansas signee Ernest Udeh (now at Texas Christian), signed to play with former UF coach Mike White and was devastated when the coach and the staff that recruited him bolted for Georgia.
“He had a little thing with the new coaching staff. They didn’t know much about him,” Ian Aberdeen, his father, said of the incoming Golden crew. “That’s when he started thinking about second options. Texas Tech, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma, the other schools that had recruited him. But the one thing I always put in front him was his decision was not about today, but down the road. For a kid it’s hard to see that far. We told him Florida was a great school. Not many get a chance to go there, but no matter where he was going to go he was going to have to fight. No one was going to give him anything.”
It was basically a rinse-and-repeat father-son conversation over the next nearly two years.
Yes, Aberdeen got some looks early during his sophomore season, but rarely looked confident or comfortable. He didn’t see the floor at all in back-to-back December games against East Carolina and Richmond, then, in January/February stretch when UF was finding its identity, combined to play just seven minutes in home wins over Mississippi State and Georgia, plus a huge road victory at No. 10 Kentucky. When Aberdeen did get his name called, he did too much thinking rather than playing between the lines. He was afraid of making a mistake. And when he did, Aberdeen was yanked from the game.
That was about the time Golden took a page from Randy Bennett, his 500-win college coach at Saint Mary’s, and laid things out for Aberdeen.
“It’s not up to me to trust you,” Golden told him. “It’s up to you to gain my trust.”
Even his crew back in Orlando was wondering what was up. What happened to the player who was so free-flowing at Dr. Phillips?
“My whole life I’d heard people say, ‘Your time will come,’ but at some point you ask: ‘When?’ ” Aberdeen said. “But I stayed focused and I stayed in the gym. Didn’t matter if I was playing 20 minutes or five minutes, I had to do what was right for my teammates.”
It was during those sometimes-dark, usually-unfulfilling days that Aberdeen leaned on assistants Taurean Green and Jordan Talley, the duo charged with player development. They were in the gym together early in the mornings and even after games, getting extra reps. At the root of his drive was the desire to succeed, of course, but don’t sell short Aberdeen’s love for the University of Florida and his Gators experience. And don’t underestimate how the UF staff kept him motivated.
Everyone wanted desperately for it to work, but especially Aberdeen.
“The way he handled it all, it’s just a rarity,” Talley said. “When guys keep hearing ‘It’s not your time’ it can change their DNA. Some start thinking they’re not as good and lose confidence. Some think it’s not fair. Denzel chose to get better.”
Aberdeen got 10 minutes in a road loss at Alabama, 15 in a home win against Vanderbilt, then it was back to cameo time. On March 14, in a narrow first-round Southeastern Conference Tournament victory against Georgia, he played just 19 seconds. The season was almost over.
Recalled Talley: “We kept telling him, ‘We know who you are. It’s up to you show everybody else.’ We knew – we had no doubt – he was going to get the opportunity. We were going to need him. I told him, ‘I have no idea when it will be, but it’s coming and you’re going to show everybody.’ The hardest part is continuing to work hard until that time comes.”
Ian Aberdeen doesn’t like to watch games on television in real time, but rather tape them and watch later with no knowledge of what happened. But the afternoon of March 16 – yes, two days after those 19 seconds against the Bulldogs – Aberdeen’s father’s cell phone was blowing up with text messages.
“What’s happening?” he thought.
As it turned out, Denzel was happening. When he turned on the DVR later that day, Ian Aberdeen saw a UF version of his son he’d watch dominate the Central Florida youth, club and prep circuit for years. Denzel’s time – at last – arrived in the SEC semifinal round against Texas A&M, a team that had beaten the Gators five straight. Florida fell behind by 18, but Aberdeen came off the bench to key one of the program’s greatest postseason rallies by scoring a career-high 20 points on six of nine shooting, including 4-for-4 from the 3-point line, to go with a career-best four steals. The Gators won 95-90 and advanced to the tournament title game for the first time in a decade.
Rewind to that day at post-game podium in Nashville, Tenn.: “My teammates always believe in me throughout practices and games,” Aberdeen said. “Just saying, ‘Keep going! Keep going!’ Without them, this wouldn’t be possible; putting me in the right spots, always believing in me, keeping my head up, just going out there and having fun. Just being ready for whenever my position is called. Go out, play hard.”
Message sent, message received.
Yes, it took a while, but Aberdeen’s perseverance – his “stick-to-it-tiveness,” Golden called it – was rewarded when his team needed him most.
In other words, the best time possible.
In the months that followed, Aberdeen’s work habits haven’t changed, but the expectations (internal and external) are different. The first guard off the bench, he’s basically viewed as a starter and is encouraged to be aggressive both shooting and attacking the defense.
Aberdeen has had show-stopping days in practice, with scoring performances in the gym (seriously) comparable to some of the greatest offensive players – Bradley Beal, KeVaughn Allen, Walter Clayton Jr., to name a few – to come through the program of late.
It may have taken some time, but along the way Aberdeen never wasted time. He just worked. And waited. In these days of Gen Z’ers craving instant gratification, that makes him a unicorn. An old-school poster child for the way things used to be.
Back when nothing was given, but rather earned.
What a homecoming it could be.
“My confidence is higher, but I’m really always the same guy. I’m still going to do what I have to do,” Aberdeen said. “My personality and knowing what I can do with the ball really hasn’t changed. I know my role, whether it’s scoring or trying to create for teammates or just getting back and playing defense. I like it.”
* Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu
