Koby Brea was considered the best 3-point shooter in the transfer portal when he picked Kentucky over Duke, Kansas, Connecticut and North Carolina. He was a two-time Atlantic 10 Sixth Man of the Year at Dayton and had 33 games in his career with three or more 3’s. He was also a career 43.4 percent shooter from 3.
Those numbers are why Kentucky coach Mark Pope considered him the “perfect 3 man” for the offense he wanted to run and called him a “beautiful piece” to add. It also helped that Brea said he had “always dreamt about coming to Kentucky” to play.
However, Brea wants to show that he is more than just a shooter on a team loaded with shooters.
“I also want to show that I can play defense and do other things besides just shoot,” Brea said.
He had an impressive start in the exhibition win over Kentucky Wesleyan as he scored 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting overall and 3-for-5 from 3 in 19 minutes. He also had two assists, one steal and one rebound.
Just like he did at Dayton, he came off the bench in the exhibition game but that is no problem for him.
“I am able to accept a role. Everybody wants to be a starter but that is not what my role has been. I am willing to bring a spark off the bench and am more than willing to do that,” Brea said.
“I think everybody does a good job, taking what they are given, and trying to do the best with what they got. I feel like everybody did a great job accepting their role and trying to be the best at their role. I feel like we did a good job out there. Everybody meshed really well—which I’m not surprised about because I have seen it in practice—but to see it against outside competition was really good.”
While he wants to show he can do more than shoot, do not doubt his confidence in his shot-making ability.
“It is just about being ready and waiting your turn and understanding when you are in the game the coaches still need somebody to knock down shots and that is something I have always done,” the Dayton transfer said. “Coach has made it clear he wants us to shoot. Probably the first thing he told me when he reached out was that I would be shooting a lot of 3’s. He wants his team to shoot the most 3’s in the country and that is the perfect system for me.”
He also quickly learned it is the perfect system for freshman Travis Perry, Kentucky’s all-time high school scoring leader.
“It’s just incredible how every day he continues to show how great of a shooter, how efficient he is. He puts in the work. I feel like the sky’s the limit for him,’ Brea said. “The biggest challenge for players is to be consistent, to be able to do it every single day and he’s one of those guys that has been able to do it every single day.
“Once you see it so many times, you know this isn’t luck but it is actually he’s the real deal. He proves it every single day. It’s fun playing with him.”
Former Kentucky All-American Jack Givens, the analyst for the UK Radio Network, likes what he has seen from Brea.
“It’s easy to say he can shoot but shooters must have confidence and the confidence he plays with shines through,” Givens said. “There will be nights where he will miss shots but he plays with so much confidence.
“He needs to figure out what else he can be good at and show his teammates and scouts he is not just a shooter. I would tell him to look at Antonio Reeves and the jump he made from his junior year to senior year. By the time he left here he was a scorer in addition to a shooter.”
Brea doesn’t think it will be hard to figure out how to excel in Pope’s offense.
“It’s pretty easy when the other guys on the team can do everything that you can do, too,” Brea said. “I think we just have a lot of options, a lot of weapons, and everybody sticks to their strengths, plays together and does what they do well.”
