Koby Brea jokes Kentucky's equipment managers will 'go through some trouble' to get his jersey back

None of the players, especially the graduates and seniors, wanted this season to end at Kentucky. Since it did this weekend in the Sweet 16, though, some equipment managers in the program are about to have an issue with some of them, namely Koby Brea.

Following the 78-65 loss to No. 3 Tennessee in Indianapolis, Brea said giving up his jersey was going to be a problem for whoever’s job it is to collect them at the end of the year. He didn’t want to take it off, let alone give it back, because of what it represented to him about his basketball journey and his lone season with this team at UK.

“Yeah, I don’t know who’s in charge of the jerseys and all that but they’re going to go through some trouble to get mine,” Brea said in the postgame press conference. “It’s still, like – it’s still surreal every time, you know, I walk in the locker room and I’m able to put this jersey on. Just, um, just from everything I’ve dealt with, everything I’ve been through, where I come from? Just to be able to put it on is just super special.”

“I might not take it off. I might not take it off, man,” said Brea earlier in the locker room. “Whenever I do, man, a little bit heartbreaking, I’m not going to lie, just because, um, I’ve always talked about how I’ve dreamed about being here and I’ve been told my whole life that I couldn’t be here. And, you know, just to finally make it and, you know, have such a good year with this group? It breaks my heart a little bit that we weren’t able to finish off the way that we wanted to.”

Again, taking off the uniform meant the beginning of the end for some of these players’ short times at Kentucky. Losing that season with this team and that fanbase was a lot for some of them, like Brea, to take.

“Then, you know, just to have my brothers? You know, we were all strangers when we first got here and we didn’t have a lot of time to really, to bond and get to know each other and, you know, make this possible. We just did. So, like, we’re all a big family now,” said Brea.

“BBN has been amazing. They made this dream, like, a reality, for real, for me,” said Brea. “Like, just, ever since I stepped into campus, um, everybody has greeted me with open arms and they’ve been amazing to me and my family.”

Brea was one of the seven transfers to Kentucky, that all made their mark while there, who were seniors or older. He had a career-high in scoring at 11.6 points (47% FG, 43.5% 3PT) along with 3.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists. Known as the previous season’s best collegiate three-point shooter, Brea made 93 more this year at 2.6 per game as UK’s leading shooter while ranking among the best again nationally from distance, including being top-ten in percentage, on an all-time three-point shooting team at the school.

This season was all that Brea wanted it to be at Kentucky besides the end. That’s why he couldn’t be more appreciative for choosing to transfer to Lexington for his final college season.

“It’s been everything I’ve wanted it to be and more so I’m just happy with my experience here, for sure,” Brea said.