Koby Brea had a career-high in assists, but Mark Pope only wanted to talk about his defense

When Koby Brea is mentioned as one of a game’s star performers, you’d think he would have poured in half a dozen three-pointers. That wasn’t the case against South Carolina though, and yet he had one of his best outings yet as a Kentucky Wildcat.

Brea finished with 10 points in an 80-57 win over the Gamecocks on Saturday at Rupp Arena. He only shot 2-6 from long range (his 38th straight game with at least one made triple) but did mix in a couple of nice shots around the paint. What stood out from his impressive showing, however, was what he did when not shooting the ball. Brea dished out a career-high six assists while grabbing five rebounds in 30 minutes of action. The Dayton transfer didn’t turn the ball over once.

But his defense is all head coach Mark Pope wanted to talk about in the postgame press conference.

“Koby Brea was unbelievable tonight. He was incredible on the defensive end,” Pope said. “It was smart, it wasn’t belligerent. It was really smart and intelligent. I couldn’t be more proud of him.”

Mark Pope talks UK's defense and having Lamont Butler back. Highlighted Koby Brea's great defensive performance too.

Says Brea has had his best 2 days of practice on defense all season coming into today. pic.twitter.com/peLFLKU70E

— Zack Geoghegan (@ZGeogheganKSR) February 8, 2025

Having Lamont Butler back in the fold helped ease some of Brea’s ball-handling responsibilities (and also inject some defensive juice into the rest of the team), which freed him up to spend that energy elsewhere. Butler’s impact allowed Brea — and Kentucky, by extension — to have his best defensive performance of the season.

“We had a chance to talk a couple days ago about the challenges ahead of us and he’s had his best two days of practice on the defensive end and I thought it carried into the game,” Pope added. “I thought he was brilliant. And when you do that, you end up playing great. I mean he’s six assists, zero turnovers. By the end of the game he’s throwing no-look passes. He was really forceful downhill. All of that stuff was an add-on to him being so, so good defensively. I thought he was exceptional.”

Brea said he took Pope’s defensive challenge to him personally. That end of the floor has been an issue for the Wildcats all season long, but even more so as of late. It helps that South Carolina is the SEC’s worst offense, but defense was a strength on Saturday for Brea and the rest of the team. The Gamecocks scored just 19 first-half points and shot 32.8 percent from the field for the entire game.

“Just taking it more personally,” Brea said of his defensive effort. “It was something that I know I’ve had to work on. I just came in with the mindset every single day that I’m just gonna guard. I’m gonna guard hard. I want everybody to see it. I want to set the tone.”