Briscoe’s Energy Sets Tone for Kentucky
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One year ago, it was Kentucky guard Tyler Ulis who every player turned to when needed. Ulis was the unquestioned leader, and it was clear that the Wildcats needed his presence on the court each game.
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| Hofstra vs. Kentucky | ||
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Sun., Dec. 11 – 3 p.m. ET |
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| Coverage | ||
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TV: ESPN |
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| UK | 2016-17 Team Stats | HU |
| 8-1 | Record | 6-4 |
| 0-0 | Conference Record | 0-0 |
| 94.2 | PPG | 79.8 |
| 68.3 | Opp PPG | 77.9 |
| .482 | FG% | .444 |
| .390 | Opp FG% | .458 |
| 44.0 | RPG | 38.8 |
| .322 | 3PT FG% | .392 |
| .268 | Opp 3PT FG% | .411 |
| .693 | FT% | .707 |
| 20.0 | APG | 14.0 |
| 7.8 | SPG | 5.9 |
| 7.6 | BPG | 3.0 |
Fast forward to the present season, and sophomore guard Isaiah Briscoe, who learned plenty under Ulis’ guidance, has that role for the Wildcats. If No. 6/7 Kentucky (8-1) is to accomplish the things it wants, Briscoe is likely to play a major factor in that.
“This group is working hard and it’s contagious with them,” said UK assistant coach Joel Justus, who filled in for Coach Cal on Friday. “They love to be in the gym and have a tremendous thirst for that. I think that goes back to Isaiah Briscoe and his leadership with this group, and I think that is something that we’re trying to continue to get him to drag us. For us to be our best, he needs to continue to be that guy. Cal has said that and hats off to him for doing that.”
When mulling over the decision to come back to school or keep his name in the NBA Draft, being the leader of the team was an attractive option for Briscoe. A five-star prospect coming out of Roselle Catholic just outside Newark, New Jersey, being a leader was all Briscoe knew coming into college.
After a strong freshman campaign, Briscoe could have gone pro. Instead, he now has a leadership role on the team and has seen his performance and numbers get a big-time boost.
Briscoe averaged 9.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 32.2 minutes per game as a freshman. As a sophomore, the 6-foot-3 bulldog of a guard is playing fewer minutes at 28.3 per contest, but is putting up 16.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. Not to mention he’s raised his free-throw average from 46.0 percent as a freshman to 71.1 percent as a sophomore.
“He makes a difference when he’s on the floor,” freshman guard De’Aaron Fox said of his backcourt mate. “Not only scoring, but as a guard, he rebounds. Defensively, he’s the best guard in the country. Offensively, he just talks us through things so when he’s on the floor you just feel how different it is.”
Part of Briscoe’s duties as the team leader is to bring energy to the court every game and practice. In the two games he missed with a “butt bruise,” Briscoe was constantly standing up and cheering on his teammates, or giving them instruction when they came to the bench.
“The biggest thing for him is when he comes in and he’s got that big smile and he’s laughing and talking and touching and bringing that competitive spirit to practice,” Justus said. “That’s when we’re at our best.”
Briscoe agrees.
“If I’m bringing energy,” he said, “they look at me and follow along.”
In UK’s lone loss of the season to UCLA, that energy was lacking. After the game, Calipari called Briscoe into his office and asked what was up.
“He just told me like, ‘What happened today? You weren’t yourself. I didn’t see the energy or anything like that,’ ” Briscoe recalled of his conversation with Coach Cal. “Me, being the leader of the team, I had to accept it. I told him, ‘Yeah, I didn’t bring energy.’ I felt like that one was on me.”
In the practices following the UCLA loss leading up to the Valparaiso practice, Calipari pitted Briscoe against Fox to raise the competitive juices in the gym. The difference in the practices carried over to the Wildcats’ next game against Valparaiso.
Kentucky went on a 21-0 first-half run against the Crusaders to take a commanding 25-4 lead and led by at least 18 points for the remainder of the game. A big part of the Wildcats’ boost in energy, Justus said, was thanks to Briscoe.
“He was tremendous,” Justus said. “… He was engaged in the huddles, he was engaged in pregame, and that’s Isaiah at his best. As someone who’s on the same team as him, it’s great to see. I was happy. It was great to have him being his best. That was a lot of fun, and Zay was a big reason why we were who we were the other night.”
Up next for Kentucky is a neutral-site game Sunday (3 p.m. ET on ESPN) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, against Hofstra (6-4).
One game after facing Valpo’s Alec Peters, the second-leading scorer in the country, UK now faces the top rebounder in the country in Hofstra’s 6-9 junior center Rokas Gustys. Gustys is pulling down 13.5 rebounds per game for the Pride to go with his 9.3 rebounds per game. The native of Lithuania has already logged two 20-rebound games this season, giving him eight in his career. Hofstra also ranks 45th nationally in 3-point field goal percentage, knocking down 39.2 percent of its shots from distance.
“It’s going to be a good game for us,” Justus said. “Obviously, they have a group that has some experience and youth that can take advantage of some of our weaknesses, but I also think what we can do can take advantage of some of their weaknesses. We go against the team with the leading rebounder this game and last game the second-leading scorer in the country. I think it gets our guys’ attention when you can throw those numbers out.”
Though he, personally, doesn’t figure to be going against Gustys very often on Sunday, Briscoe, and his energy, specifically, will once again be a key for Kentucky if it’s going to come out on top.
“I’m cool with that,” Briscoe said. “I don’t think anybody wouldn’t be cool with that. … It’s a lot on my plate, but I asked to eat. This is what it comes with. I’ll take care of it.”
Fox Named SEC Freshman of the Week for Second Time
After posting just the second triple-double in school history last week, guard De’Aaron Fox was named the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week on Monday. Fox becomes the first player in the league this year to win two weekly SEC honors. He also won SEC Freshman of the Week the opening week of the season.
Fox averaged 17.0 points, a team-high 9.5 assists and 6.5 rebounds for the week in games against Arizona State in the Bahamas and at home vs. then-No. 11/9 UCLA. The highlight of the week was his game against the Sun Devils on Monday, when he posted 14 points, a career-high 11 rebounds and 10 assists. It marked the school’s first triple-double since Chris Mills posted the program’s first one on Dec. 27, 1988.
Fox was simply brilliant in the win over Arizona State. He was 6 for 9 from the field and recorded nine rebounds by halftime. His 10 assists led a balanced and explosive Kentucky offense, as the Wildcats broke the 100-point mark for a third consecutive game – the first time that had been done since December 1977 – and dished out 33 total assists, the most in the John Calipari era and just two off the school record. Against the Bruins, Fox scored 20 points, just one off his career high, and just missed out on a double- double with a game-high nine assists.
Cats Turn up the Energy, Defense in Bounce-Back Win
Kentucky’s mistake-filled start quickly gave way to the energetic effort the sixth-ranked Wildcats acknowledged was missing against UCLA, and their intensity soon put things out of reach for Valparaiso. Bam Adebayo scored 16 points, Malik Monk added 15 and UK scored 21 straight points in a first-half run to beat the Crusaders 87-63 on Wednesday night.
Needing to rebound after Saturday’s upset by then-No. 11 UCLA, Kentucky (8-1) turned a 4-all tie and seven turnovers in the first four minutes into a 29-9 lead behind that big run over 8:51, holding the Crusaders scoreless for seven minutes during that stretch. The Wildcats eventually built a 34-point lead midway through the second half on the way to a feel-good performance that included 19 forced turnovers and nine blocks, the kind of effort they’re used to.
Valparaiso (7-2) shot just 28 percent in the first half and finished 23 of 67 from the field (34 percent). It was the Crusaders’ second- lowest field goal percentage this season.
Those struggles made it easy for Kentucky to outscore the Crusaders 46-32 in the paint and 18-2 on the fast break.
Derek Willis added 12 points for his third straight game in double figures, and Isaiah Briscoe had 10 for Kentucky, which shot 46 percent after making just 41 percent against UCLA.
High-scoring Valparaiso forward Alec Peters scored 16 of his 23 points in the second half. The Crusaders had their four-game winning streak snapped eight days after upsetting No. 21 Rhode Island. The nation’s second-leading scorer coming in (25.4 points per game) went to the locker room briefly in the second half with a leg cramp but returned to finish off his ninth 20-point effort in as many games. UK largely held him in check though, forcing him to get to 23 points on 20 shots.
Other notables:
• With the 24-point win, all eight of UK’s wins have been by at least 21 points. The last Kentucy team to do that was the 1934-35 squad
• The Wildcats’ 21-0 run early in the first half to take a 25-4 lead was their biggest of the season
• Kentucky improved to 35-7 (.833) under John Calipari in “bounce-back” games following a loss
• UK is now 138-5 (.965) when holding the opponent to 63 or fewer points
• Adebayo led the Wildcats in scoring for the first time this season
• Monk’s 15 points extended his double-digit scoring streak to start the season at nine
• Isaiah Briscoe scored 10 points and has reached double digits in all seven games that he has played
• Mychal Mulder had nine points and seven rebounds, just one shy of his career high
