Denzel Aberdeen deciding to enter the transfer portal after Florida won the men’s college basketball national championship was enough of a surprise.
But the 6-foot-5 guard doubled down on shock value by choosing to transfer to SEC rival Kentucky, according to several reports.
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Going into his senior season, the guard figured to have a significant role for head coach Todd Golden’s squad, taking over the lead scoring role left by Walter Clayton Jr., while Will Richard and Alijah Martin have also finished their eligibility.
Aberdeen, 6-foot-5, averaged 7.7 points per game and shot 35% on 3-pointers in 39 games (five starts) as a junior for the Gators, for whom he played three seasons. The team’s fifth-leading scorer, he notched consecutive 20-point performances in mid-February against Mississippi State and South Carolina.
During Florida’s NCAA tournament run, Aberdeen had his best scoring performance with 12 points versus Maryland in the Sweet 16. He tallied seven points in the win over Houston in the national title game.
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Coming to Gainesville, Aberdeen was rated a four-star prospect by Rivals in the 2022 recruiting class out of Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Florida.
Aberdeen figures to have a featured role at Kentucky for head coach Mark Pope. The Wildcats finished 24-12 overall and sixth in the SEC at 10-8, before losing in the NCAA tournament third round to Tennessee. Seven seniors are gone from last season’s team and leading scorer Otega Oweh (16.2 points per game) could leave after declaring for the NBA Draft.
But Pope has made a major plunge into the transfer portal to restock the roster. Joining Aberdeen in Lexington will be guard Jaland Lowe from Pittsburgh, former Tulane wing Kam Williams, Mouhamed Dioubate from Alabama and Jayden Quaintance, formerly of Arizona State.
Additionally, the Wildcats will add four-star recruit Jasper Johnson, who Rivals ranked as the No. 2 point guard nationally in the 2025 class, along with two 6-foot-11 forwards in Malachi Moreno and Croatian Andrija Jelavic from Croatia.
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