92-83 loss to the Gators.<\/a> It was Aberdeen\u2019s first game in Gainesville since leaving the program and signing with a Southeastern Conference rival.<\/p>\nFlorida fans booed him in pregame warmups and introductions. But Florida\u2019s student section, the \u201cRowdy Reptiles,\u201d was much harsher once the game tipped. They \u201cwelcomed\u201d him back with chants of \u201cGator traitor\u201d every time he touched the ball.<\/p>\n
Aberdeen, who spent the previous three years at Florida, handled it well. He responded by scoring a team-high 19 points on 8-of-21 shooting. The Gators forced him to take contested shots \u2014 he missed five of six from 3-point range \u2013 and didn\u2019t let him do much else.<\/p>\n
Aberdeen chipped in four assists, two turnovers, a steal and a rebound.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, Florida fans know Denzel,\u201d Kentucky coach Mark Pope said. \u201cDenzel is the ultimate competitor. I never worry about the lights with him. I never worry about the moment. And I never worry about the distraction because he loves to compete.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis fanbase knows him. Of course, our fanbase loves him so much. He\u2019s a special player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Golden said Aberdeen\u2019s return and the backlash that comes with it are something college basketball should get used to, especially with all the freedom players have to move from place to place.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a new era,\u201d Golden said. \u201cWe dabbed it up. We\u2019re cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Florida had several former players on hand for the sold-out game against Kentucky, including NBA rookies and Walter Clayton and Will Richard.<\/p>\n
Clayton, the MVP of last year\u2019s Final Four, and Richard were greeted with standing ovations when they walked to their courtside seats and when they were recognized in the first half. Matt Walsh (2002-05) and Matt Bonner (1999-2003) also made the trip to Gainesville and got warm receptions.<\/p>\n
Aberdeen can\u2019t say the same. He dumped Florida for more money and maybe a better opportunity in Lexington. While Florida made a huge deal while handing out championship rings to Clayton, Richard and Alijah Martin in person during the NBA season, the team simply shipped one to Aberdeen.<\/p>\n
Golden may have even taken a veiled shot at Aberdeen\u2019s decision by mentioning Kentucky\u2019s \u201c$22 million roster\u201d after the game.<\/p>\n
Golden responded last year by signing Arkansas guard Boogie Fland to round out his backcourt. Fland spent much of the game guarding Otega Oweh, who finished with 13 points on 4-of-14 shooting. Aberdeen got slightly better looks \u2014 and a lot more attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a good matchup,\u201d Florida\u2019s Alex Condon said. \u201cI knew \u2019Zel was going to be aggressive tonight and try to fuel off the crowd a little bit. Credit to him. He played a solid game and was aggressive. But our guys did a great job of making it tough, making him take tough 2s and running him off the 3-point line.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By MARK LONG GAINESVILLE \u2014 Denzel Aberdeen helped Florida win a national championship last April. In his homecoming,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[111,28,30,29,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-156003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-college-sports","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-florida-headlines","11":"tag-florida-news","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}