Florida guard Alijah Martin cleared to play against South Carolina
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida starting guard Alijah Martin has been cleared to play against South Carolina, Gators Online has learned. Martin had missed the last two games with a hip pointer.
He was upgraded from questionable to probable on the available report Friday night. Earlier that day, UF coach Todd Golden said Martin was “getting closer” to returning.
“He said he’s feeling better this morning,” Golden said. “But this deal has been a little tricky with his abdomen, the tightness and kind of a weird inability to treat it in terms of, like, there’s only so much rehab you can do on your ab, you know?
“So, we’ll see how practice looks today. We kind of felt like he was getting close to playing and he wasn’t able to, so I don’t wanna say that today and him not play tomorrow. So I’m gonna say I don’t know, and hopefully he does. But he’s definitely getting closer.”
Alijah Martin ranks second on the team in scoring with 15.3 points per game. He suffered his hip pointer against Vanderbilt but returned to the game and played through the injury.
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Junior guard Denzel Aberdeen had replaced Martin in the lineup the last two games. Aberdeen has played a huge role in UF’s three-game win streak, averaging 14.3 points in his first career starts.
“I think he’s just gotten really confident,” Golden said of Aberdeen. “And now, over this past three games getting kind of the extended role, the opportunity that is there for him. I just think confidence is a little easier to come by when they’re gonna be out there, you know, 27 to 32 minutes a night. And as Alijah comes back, we’re gonna have to work him back in there. And again, a good problem to have. But he’s just getting to that point in his career. A junior now, been in our program for three years. And I think he’s a great example of someone who has stuck with it and is reaping the benefits, right? He wasn’t some remarkably heralded recruit. I think he was a three-star, close to top 100 kid. But when I got here, he really wanted to be a Gator and that was something that made a big impression upon me and our staff.
“And he obviously wasn’t ready as a freshman. He just wasn’t. And instead of complaining and blaming us, he stayed in the program and worked. And even a sophomore year didn’t really go his way until the end of the year where he was playing so well that he kind of forced himself into the lineup. And then after last year, instead of pointing fingers or saying, ‘Hey, I need this, I need that,’ or, ‘I need this guaranteed.’ We just told him, ‘Hey, you have a great shot to be a big part of our rotation for next year if you stay in the course.’ And he’s stuck with it. And now you’re seeing him play at an insanely high level, really coming into his own. And I think he’s gonna have a great rest of the year and should have a great senior year for us next year as well.”
