Koby Brea, Kentucky embracing underdog mentality entering NCAA Tournament

There are a lot of words that could be used to describe the Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball program. In very few cases would someone use the term ‘underdog.’

However, that’s the mindset UK is embracing heading into their March Madness slate, which begins in Milwaukee on Friday. Kentucky sharpshooter Koby Brea explained the basis behind the mentality against Troy.

“We’re still going to continue to hunt. Who we’re playing against, we’re still going to have that underdog mentality,” Brea told reporters after Kentucky’s open practice on Thursday. “It’s good for us to have all these experienced guys from smaller schools, that’s going to help us a lot. We don’t look at it like [we’re playing] a mid-major team. For us, this is another opportunity to be ourselves and be the best version of ourselves, and take care of business. It’s an underdog mentaility, for sure.”

Brea’s comments make sense considering where him and some of his teammates were last year. Brea himself played four seasons at Dayton before making the move south to Lexington. He got his first taste of NCAA Tournament action last season.

Elsewhere on the roster, Amari Williams came to Kentucky from Drexel and Ansley Almonor came from Farleigh Dickinson. Notably, Lamont Butler has Final Four experience as the point guard at San Diego State. He even made a buzzer-beating jump shot in that matchup to send his Aztecs to the championship game.

Kentucky’s players do have some power conference experience, however. Andrew Carr (Wake Forest) played in the ACC, and Otega Oweh (Oklahoma) and Brandon Garrison (Oklahoma State) played in the Big 12. Kerr Kriisa (Arizona) played in the old Pac-12, and Jaxson Robinson (BYU) played in the Big 12 last season, but will not participate in the NCAA Tournament due to respective injuries.

Carr, Oweh and Garrison do not have any previous NCAA Tournament experience with their programs, while the injured Kriisa and Robinson do. Almonor made the tournament with Farleigh Dickinson in 2023, and Amari Williams did the same with Drexel as a true freshman in 2021.

With this type of experience on UK’s roster heading into March Madness, it’s no surprise that Kentucky’s players feel as if they’re underdogs. Kentucky will look to take this mindset and apply it on the court against Troy, who are the real underdogs on paper.

As it stands, Kentucky is an 11.5-point favorite over its opening-round opponent, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The Wildcats and Trojans will tip-off on March 30 at 7:10 p.m. ET and will air live on CBS.