Briscoe ‘Makes it Happen’ for No. 5 Kentucky

Isaiah Briscoe doesn’t have the electrifying dunks of Malik Monk. He doesn’t the blazing fast speed of De’Aaron Fox.

But that’s OK. He’s doing just fine with what he does have, which is a lot of everything.

“I’m just trying to win,” Briscoe said. “I’m trying to do whatever my team needs me to do to win. That’s the most important thing.”

Playing in one of, if not the best backcourt in all of college basketball, Briscoe is the Kentucky Wildcats’ wily old sophomore vet. He tends to slip between the cracks at times, but that has nothing to do with his abilities. Instead, it has much more to do with his all-around game and once again being part of an electric three-man backcourt.

Last year there was Tyler Ulis, who broke the program’s single-season assists record and was a consensus first team All-American. There was also Jamal Murray, who broke the UK freshman scoring and 3-point records and was taken seventh overall in the NBA Draft.

This year, Monk leads the Southeastern Conference and is second nationally among freshmen in scoring. He’s a regular on ESPN’s SportsCenter top 10 plays feature, and broke the school’s single-game freshman scoring record.

Fox is so fast with the ball that people are left to wonder if he’s the quickest in program history – even faster than head coach John Calipari’s first point guard at UK, John Wall. On Nov. 28, he recorded the second triple-double in program history and the first in nearly 28 years.

Tasked with having to write a scouting report on himself, the 6-foot-3 bulldog, as Coach Cal likes to call him, gives an honest answer that is equal parts strong and finesse, much like his own game.

“I don’t think there’s really anything you can say because I’m not one-dimensional,” Briscoe said. “If I’m not scoring in a game – if they say, ‘Don’t let him score,’ well, OK, I’m going to get my teammates involved. I’m going to start transition, get rebounds, do that. If they’re trying to take Malik away or something and say, ‘Let Briscoe score,’ I can go and I can have a big night. I don’t know what you can say because I’m just playing basketball, always making the right plays. Stats don’t really matter to me. It’s just about winning. So, I don’t really know what you could say.”

Briscoe happened to record the third triple-double in program history just six games after Fox, but it almost seemed like an afterthought because Kentucky’s first half offensively was as good as it has looked all year and freshman big man Bam Adebayo scored a career-high 25 points.

His impact certainly hasn’t been lost on the Kentucky coaches.

“Personally, I believe the thing that he does the best is he drags us,” UK assistant coach Joel Justus said. “He’s a gatherer of guys that gets us to where we want to go.

“I think the thing that we’re proud of is he has been the guy that is the first guy talking and is the last guy talking – whether it’s on offense, whether it’s on defense, whether it’s in timeouts – he’s the guy that you can say is the straw that stirs the drink with this group.”

A native of Newark, New Jersey, Briscoe is averaging 15.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. In five conference games, he’s third on the team with 16.0 points, tied for second with 5.8 rebounds and first with 5.8 assists per game.

From the summer workouts and pick-up games, to the early season exhibition contests when Calipari declared him the “key to the team,” Briscoe worked hard all preseason to fill the massive leadership void that was left when Ulis departed for the NBA. That work has continued into the season, and he feels the praise he’s gotten for his leadership is deserved.

“I’ve put the work in for it,” Briscoe said. “I’ve put the time in here. I have a lot of experience out on that court, but not only that, I’m in here every day before practice, after practice working out, in practice giving 110 percent every day. It’s not just like that was given. I’m in here and I’m working like I’m not getting all this stuff. It’s just a mental thing with me. I’m just trying to get better every day.”

Coach Cal had the opportunity to go out recruiting and visit three kids on Thursday, but to do so the Wildcats had to practice in the morning so that Calipari could get on a plane and travel in time. For many teams, this is a recipe for a sluggish practice. Not only is it early in the morning, it’s a break from routine. Briscoe made sure it wasn’t a problem.

“We practiced (Thursday) morning and he had them so ready to practice,” Calipari said Friday. “My worry was that we cannot waste a day. If we can’t practice in the morning then I won’t travel. … When I walked in that morning at 7:25 a.m., the guys were clapping for me like I was late. He had them ready and we had a great practice, which shows me a lot about the team and his leadership.”

His leadership and intangibles on the court have impressed other coaches around the league as well, including Tuesday’s opposing coach, Mississippi State’s Ben Howland. 

“Briscoe, to me, is the guy that if you (asked) me, who am I most worried about? I’m worried about him,” Howland said.

Howland, who went to the Final Four three consecutive seasons at UCLA and coached such players as current NBA stars Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love, glowed about Briscoe on Monday during the SEC Coaches’ Teleconference, calling him the “heart and soul” of the Wildcats.

“He makes it happen,” Howland said. “He’s leading them in assists right now in conference games. They need a tough basket, he’s the guy that delivers. He’s just a winner. He makes everybody else better around him. You can’t say enough about Briscoe and what he does.”