Milwaukee
It’s true that Koby Brea has stepped up his defensive game in recent weeks. And, sure, the fifth-year guard has shown more of his offensive versatility over the course of this season, too.
But the thing that Brea does best is shoot. And, boy, did he shoot it Sunday night.
Kentucky beat Illinois 84-75 to advance to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament, and Brea is a big part of the reason why the Wildcats’ season is still going.
The 6-foot-7 guard from Washington Heights, New York, had nine points and four rebounds in the first half against the Illini, and he played a key role in the defensive start that helped propel Kentucky to an early lead that the Cats never surrendered.
So, Brea was already having a fine game in the Fiserv Forum before he truly went off.
With UK up 60-51 but the Illini on a 9-3 run, he took the game into his own hands.
It started on the wing, where Brea juked Illinois freshman Kasparas Jakucionis all over creation — as Brandon Garrison waited patiently with the ball — and then received the handoff from Garrison, feigned a drive, stepped back behind the perimeter and waited for a late-recovering Jakucionis to fly by him. Brea let it rip. Kentucky 63, Illinois 51.
UK’s best shooter had that look in his eye that his fellow Cats have seen before.
“I mean, at that point, you just gotta give him the ball, because whatever he shoots is going to go in,” Kentucky center Amari Williams said.
Next trip down the floor, with Illinois’ Tre White trying to defend him at the top of the key, Brea danced around with the ball some more. Garrison set a screen and Brea dribbled around it. Freshman forward Morez Johnson Jr. backpedaled. Brea sized him up, pulled up, and let it fly from the elbow. Kentucky 65, Illinois 51.
“I was on the floor, I think, for a good amount of his points on his run,” freshman Collin Chandler said. “And I was just like, sitting back and watching. I was tempted to not go try to get the offensive rebound. I still went in there. Doesn’t mean I didn’t have confidence, because I thought it was going in every time.”
After Jakucionis scored on the other end, Kentucky came back down the court with the ball.
Jakucionis was on Brea again. He dribbled backward, away from the perimeter, toward midcourt, and the freshman went with him. Brea went left, led Jakucionis right into another screen from Garrison, who knocked the Illinois guard off his path as Brea zeroed in on the basket.
Johnson fell back into drop coverage yet again, so Brea stepped into a 3-point attempt. Kentucky 68, Illinois 53. That’s eight points in 59 seconds. After the game, Andrew Carr was still laughing about it.
“It was magical to watch,” the UK forward said. “I’m just running around trying to set some screens for him, too — do whatever I can to get him the ball. Because that man — he had it going for a long stretch right there in the second half. He was killing, and they stayed in the drop. So he’s gonna keep killin’! That’s what it is. So, you know, he’s really incredible.”
By this point, everybody knows.
Brea came to Kentucky last spring billed as the best 3-point shooter in the transfer portal. He hasn’t done anything to diminish that reputation. He was 20-for-27 from 3-point range over his first five games as a Wildcat, an unfathomable rate from the perimeter.
He was 7-for-9 from deep in the SEC opener against Florida, leading Kentucky to a win over a team that is now one of the favorites for the national championship.
He’s gone 6-for-9 from long range in UK’s two victories over Tennessee, the team the Wildcats will face in the Sweet 16 on Friday night in Indianapolis, a trip to the Elite Eight on the line.
On Sunday night, he tied his career high from the Florida game, dropping 23 points on the Illini. He was 10-for-16 from the floor — one shot shy from the most he’s ever taken in a game — and 3-for-8 from deep. His teammates didn’t mind the shot volume. Turn it up, they said.
“If he shoots that much in every game, I think that’s what we’re gonna get in every game,” Chandler said. “Because that’s just Koby Brea. It was just a huge way of stepping up in a game that we needed him, for sure.”
That second-half flurry wasn’t quite finished. Not long after that 3 to give Kentucky a 68-53 lead — and to give himself eight points in under a minute — Brea had one more basket in him.
He came around another screen — Illinois guard Kylan Boswell trying and failing to keep up with him this time — and waited for the defender to catch up to him on the wing. Brea leaned in, got Boswell on his hip and went to work.
Brea dribbled backwards. Boswell followed, staying close. Garrison came out to set another screen, and Brea used the 6-10, 250-pounder post player to pick Boswell as he dribbled around to the right of his teammate. Boswell chased him from behind. Brea pulled up at the elbow.
The Kentucky player raised his arms to let one go. Nope. Pump fake. Boswell flew by him. By the time the Illinois guard landed — about eight feet away, with his back to the UK shooter — Brea was all alone on that elbow. He took his sweet time and let one go for real. Boswell didn’t even bother turning around. Everyone in the building knew that ball was going to find the bottom of the net.
Kentucky 70, Illinois 54.
Brea backpedaled down the court, shaking his head. Lamont Butler backpedaled alongside him and put his fingers up around his eyes, forming them into the shape of goggles. Brea smiled at his teammate.
He didn’t score again Sunday night. He didn’t need to. The other Cats took it from there.
Brea finished the game with six rebounds. He played a key role in Kentucky’s defensive excellence that set the tone for the win. That’s what Mark Pope wanted to talk about afterward.
The Kentucky coach knows that when Brea does those other things, his team is capable of beating anybody in the country. And Brea knows that he doesn’t have to score in bunches for his team to win.
But if that’s what Kentucky needs, he’s usually the best Cat for the job. And there’s only one Koby Brea.
“It’s such a good thing that I’m able to come out and get some buckets, and as soon as I miss or fall off or something, the next guy’s coming,” he said. “So I don’t have to put so much pressure on myself that I have to deliver. Because there’s a bunch of other guys that can do it, too.”
Koby Brea tied a career high with 23 points in Kentucky’s win against Illinois in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Milwaukee on Sunday. Ryan C. Hermens [email protected]
This story was originally published March 24, 2025 at 6:30 AM.
