Denzel Aberdeen was catalyst for Kentucky in second half against LSU

Kentucky guard Denzel Aberdeen was a huge part of Kentucky's second-half comeback against LSU.

Kentucky Wildcats guard Denzel Aberdeen (1) defends Mississippi State Bulldogs guard Josh Hubbard. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images | Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

The Kentucky Wildcats completed an incredible comeback effort on Wednesday against the LSU Tigers. Kentucky was down as much as 18 points early in the second half after a first period that included some of their worst basketball of the season, starting the game down 18-3 before taking a 16-point lead into halftime. The second half was completely different, and one player in partcular was a major part of the comeback, Denzel Aberdeen.

Aberdeen began the second half with zero points. In fact, the Kentucky guard was 0-2 from the floor, with just one assist to show for his 14 minutes on the floor. As Kentucky fans know, the entire team has been known to come out of halftime which much better flow on offense and energy on defense. They definitely needed it being down 16 points at the half. Well, Aberdeen was a massive part in making the comeback happen. The 6-5 point guard played all 20 minutes of the final half, putting up 17 points on 5-6 shooting from the floor, including 2-2 from three, 3 assists, finishing with a plus-19 advantage in his time on the court in the second half.

What flipped the switch for Aberdeen to get he and his teammates going, being the initiator on the offense that the team needs him to be? "Shout out to coach Pope. He got on me in the halftime told me, be aggressive, be yourself," Aberdeen said following the 75-74 win. "I just want to do whatever I can for to win for this team. Shout out to everybody else, my teammates as well. They found me in the right spots. Malachi set some great screens for me, a lot of extra passes and stuff like that. So that kind of got me going, and I think that opened up for everybody else."

His play certainly got everyone else going. It seems like a trend, but this team has had many slow starts to the game this season followed by better second half efforts. 53 of Kentucky's 75 points came in the second half, including 12 of their 14 assists. It was much better basketball in the second half, but they really can't afford to continue having these slow starts, especially with a tough SEC schedule coming up, as four of their next six games are on the road.

The Wildcats certainly need a full-game of effort on Saturday at #24 Tennessee, a team who has one of the best defenses in the country, where it makes a big deficit hard to come back from.