On Koby Brea's birthday, an appreciation of his Kentucky debut

Kentucky beating Wright State by 41 points, the same number Mark Pope wore as a Wildcat, in Pope’s debut as head coach stole the headlines Monday night, but there were plenty of other cool takeaways from the season-opening win. One of them is Koby Brea going a perfect 4-4 from the three-point line, the best mark from the outside by a player in their Kentucky debut ever. That’s an accomplishment worth celebrating all on its own, but especially today, Brea’s 22nd birthday.

Brea and Brandon Garrison were Kentucky’s first substitutes, checking in at the 14:44 mark of the first half. Two minutes in, he hit his first three and followed it up with another one a minute later. He stayed hot in the second half, coming off the bench to hit his third three at the 14:31 mark, but his fourth and final three was the one everyone talked about. Kerr Kriisa drove toward the basket and whipped a no-look pass to Brea, who launched it from the corner and twirled around to look at the crowd as it swished through the net, Steph Curry style. It was the exclamation mark on an exciting opening night.

KOBY BREA 🫣🔥🔥🔥

📺 – ESPNU pic.twitter.com/vqXG9NQwSi

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) November 5, 2024

“It kinda just happens off of instincts. I never plan it, it just happens,” Brea said of his 4-4 mark from the outside after the game. “Sometimes as a shooter, you just know that there’s no way it’s not going in.“

Brea finished with 18 points, just four shy of his career-high, on 7-8 from the field, two rebounds, and two assists in just 20 minutes. After going 4-10 from three in Kentucky’s two exhibitions, it felt like a much more fitting debut for the sharpshooter, who led the nation in three-point percentage (49.8%) last season. What a moment for a player who finally realized his dream of going to Kentucky after four seasons at Dayton.

Brea, whose parents are from the Dominican Republic, hails from New York and started supporting Kentucky when players from the area like Karl-Anthony Towns, Isaiah Briscoe, and Hamidou Diallo came to Lexington. There’s also Devin Booker, whom he models his game after.

“Karl Towns, I always talk about him; he’s somebody that comes from a similar background,” Brea told KSR on Media Day. “He’s from the Dominican Republic as well and he played in New Jersey, which is not far from where I was from, and I got to see him come to Kentucky and play and guys like Isaiah Briscoe and Hamidou Diallo. Just seeing that, I fell in love with it and my favorite player Devin Booker, played here as well so that’s just the cherry on top.”

Hopefully, the former Cats reach out to wish Brea a happy birthday and congratulate him on his exciting debut.

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