By Josh Ellis

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As No. 2 UK edged past No. 5 Duke 74-63 in the Champions Classic in Chicago, head coach John Calipari might’ve found his x-factor for the remainder of the season.

Calipari said freshman guard Isaiah Briscoe could be the “best defender in the country” earlier this year, and Briscoe backed up his coach’s talk Tuesday night by tipping away balls, corralling defenders and snagging defensive boards that led to easy transition buckets.

Briscoe’s defensive ability will make him the x-factor for UK this season, and his ability to be a shutdown defender on the opponent’s best players will keep UK in ball games even when the team is struggling.

With under 10 minutes to play in the first half, two Duke free-throws tied the game at 18 and the momentum began to sway in the Blue Devils’ favor as UK could not keep them off the glass.

That’s when Briscoe upped his defensive intensity.

During the next six minutes, Briscoe held Grayson Allen to 0-of-4 shooting and caused Matt Jones to miss two threes. UK’s ball-hawking defender also had one rebound and one assist in the span that gave the Cats back the momentum and a 31-24 lead.

Calipari said he’d have to watch the film to see just how good his freshman is, but was quick to point out Briscoe didn’t play a perfect game defensively.

“I’ll watch the tape and find out (how much of a contributing factor Briscoe was on Allen’s performance),” Calipari said. “I do know he ran a gap late and gave Allen a three from the corner.”

Briscoe’s scrappy defense kept Duke’s leading scorer, Allen (27 ppg), in check all night, allowing Allen just six points on 2-of-11 shooting. Not only was Allen facing difficulties from Briscoe’s defense, but teammates Jones and Luke Kennard also struggled to produce when the Union, N.J., native was locked on them.

“Briscoe played well,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “I thought they were stronger than we were. When someone’s playing that strong you have to come back with that type of effort and strength and I didn’t think we did.”

The trio of Blue Devils scored a combined 24 points on 7-of-27 shooting and turned the ball over four times.

Briscoe doesn’t just slow production from star players, but he can also make timely stops and momentum building plays.

As time was winding down in the first half, Briscoe poked the ball away from Allen, where Marcus Lee picked it up, threw it to Jamal Murray who then dished it to Briscoe for the finish and gave the Cats a 37-31 lead heading into halftime.

“A big play was at the end of the first half when we trapped and came up with the ball,” Calipari said. “Because then we started with the ball in the second half. Not only did they not score, we scored, and we got the ball in the second half.”

Briscoe finished the night scoring 12 points, grabbing three rebounds and snatching two steals. He played with grit and toughness all night, playing so hard that he got cramped up and couldn’t go late in the second half — but at that point that Cats held a comfortable double-digit lead.

“The one guy that makes us pretty gritty is Isaiah,” Calipari said. “I was like, ‘What is wrong?’ ‘I’m cramping all the way up to my hip,’ and I’m like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’”