LEXINGTON, Ky. – No. 2 Kentucky found itself down 9-2 not even four full minutes into Sunday’s matchup against Canisius. Head coach John Calipari couldn’t stand it any longer, he needed to call a timeout and calm his team down. He needed someone, something, to spark a fire.

Isaiah Briscoe was that spark.

“I just kept telling the guys ‘We’re fine. Teams are going to make their runs, just keep calm. Everything will come back to reality in like 10-12 minutes,’” Briscoe said. “(Canisius) came out shooting the ball well, they were on fire. Give credit to those guys, but we made our run towards the end of the half… and we just took off from there.”

Out of the timeout, Briscoe blew by his man for an easy layup. On the next possession, he came down and drilled a jumper. Three more Briscoe layups later and the Wildcats found themselves in the lead.

“I could tell when we weren’t hitting shots and we came out sluggish,” Briscoe said. “I knew that I was going to have to keep us in the game in the first half.”

It only took one blow-by for the New Jersey native to realize Canisius had no answer for him. He drove to the rim with ease time, after time, after time. And when he wasn’t converting at the rack, he was getting fouled and going to the line. It was an easy 17 points, four rebounds and one assist in the first half.

“I realized how open the court was and I was trying to get (De’Aaron) Fox and Malik (Monk), I’m trying to tell them, ‘Yo, the court’s wide open,’” Briscoe said. “You can’t really help off Malik because he can shoot the ball, so I just kept driving to his side and his guy can’t help and then it’s one-on-one.”

Briscoe finished the night with a career high in points (21) and made field goals (9). After two games, he leads the team in points per game with 19.

But Calipari was quick to point out that his scoring isn’t what keeps him on the court. Instead, it’s Briscoe’s hustle and determination. He dives for loose balls, scraps for rebounds and plays good defense. The sophomore seems to be one of the few players on the Kentucky roster that has all the intangibles.

“You can see that he was a veteran and that he had been through it,” Canisius head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. “Sometimes it’s difficult to arrive at the kind of balance where you’re aggressive, you’re physical, but you’re still poised and I thought he played that way for them.”

For Briscoe, though, he said it was just another day at the office. His focus, rather than stuff his own stat sheet and bring his own energy, is to get others involved and playing with the same level of confidence he possesses.

“That was the whole point of me coming back,” Briscoe said. “Just trying to lead these young guys. Keep them on the right track and keep them focused.”

And if he’s not leading in the game, he’s doing it in practice. Calipari said Briscoe is one of the few players who’s the first one to the gym and the last one to leave. Now all the head coach wants from Briscoe is to drag some of the other guys into the gym with him.

He won’t have a ton of time to do that before Kentucky hits the road to face No. 12 Michigan State in Tuesday’s State Farm Champions Classic, but it still gives Briscoe a chance to get the message across before the first big game of the season.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Briscoe said. “Michigan State is a great team from what I hear. We’ve been playing pretty well, got practice tomorrow, go over the scouting report and we’ll take it from there.”

Madison Square Garden may be intimating to some of the young guys, but not to Briscoe – he’s already played there a number of times. Instead, the biggest dilemma he’ll run into is not getting enough tickets for all his friends and family.

Playing near his hometown is great and all, but getting enough tickets for everyone isn’t usually this difficult. So why is this game so difficult to get extra tickets?

“Everybody’s using tickets,” Briscoe said. “You got Tai (Wynyard) is using tickets – he’s from New Zealand, who knows who’s coming for him. You got Isaac (Humphries) using tickets, everybody’s using tickets.”

Regardless who gets those tickets for Tuesday’s showdown, Briscoe will be the one that has to do the showing up. He gave Kentucky the spark it needed on Sunday, can he do it again against national competition, and get teammates involved at the same time?

We’ll have to wait and see.