Kentucky rolls past Ole Miss behind Briscoe's triple-double

Photo: UK Athletics

After more than a week without a game, the UK basketball team sent a message to the rest of the country in the first half Thursday night that the team who played in Louisville last week is not the real Kentucky.

The Cats jumped all over the Rebels from the start, taking a 60-39 lead into the break behind Malik Monk’s 24 points in the first period. The 60-points marked the most points ever scored by a John Calipari Kentucky team and gave the team all the cushion they would need in the second half.

Though the first half wasn’t quite as impressive as the first half, Kentucky controlled every Ole Miss threat to make the game close and eventually walked away with a 99-76 win.

Monk finished with 34 points on 11-16 shooting (5-7 from three) and Bam Adebayo scored 25 points to go with 4 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. The big story though was sophomore Isaiah Briscoe, who bounced back from his recent struggles with the program’s third triple-double in history. Briscoe finished with 19 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds – the last of which came on an intentionally missed free throw by Derek Willis, who was trying to get his teammate his triple-double.

We’ll have more on KSTV Friday.