Koby Brea on playing fast and shooting 3s in Mark Pope's system

Koby Brea was one of the best 3-point specialists in college basketball last season, shooting 49.8% from outside on six attempts per game for the Dayton Flyers. Now a Kentucky Wildcat, Brea will play in an offensive system that prioritizes 3-point shooting. He is surrounded by other outstanding perimeter players on UK’s roster, and the new coaching staff has said the Wildcats will try to attempt 35 per game. Brea is excited about the new opportunity to let it fly.

“That was the biggest draw for me, probably, coming here, seeing how perfect the system is,” Brea told KSR on Tuesday. “Coach Pope did a great job explaining that to me, like, where I can excel in the offense and just excel in his system in general, defensively as well.”

Brea added, “I’m really excited, not only for me, but we have shooters all over the court. It’s going to be hard for teams to stop one person because they’re going to have to worry about four others at the same time.”

When Brea committed in May, Mark Pope called him the best returning shooter in the country. “Koby is a dangerous, dangerous man,” Pope said of the Dayton transfer. But when Brea looks around the Joe Craft Center training facility, he sees several other high-level shooters around him.

He said, “We have so many people in the gym working out. I’m like, damn, am I really the greatest shooter? Because there’s some pretty good shooters here.

“But it just pushes you. Right when you think you’re really good at something, you’re seeing the next guy push you more and more, and that’s what you want to be a part of. You want to help others be great, and they’re helping you as well.”

Plenty of shots to go around, but don’t pass them up

With so much talent, there could be concerns about getting everyone enough opportunities to play. Brea downplayed that notion, saying he and his teammates knew coming in that they would have to make a small sacrifice for the group. Still, there will be plenty of shots to go around.

“We play so fast that we can easily get up so many more shots,” said Brea. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we score 100 points in a couple of games because we play really, really fast. That’s something Coach emphasizes every day in practice: play fast, play fast, play fast. I think it’s good for the group because the faster we play, the more shots we can take.”

UK assistant coach Cody Feuger, one of the masterminds behind the fast-paced system he and Pope bring from BYU, said the quickest way to get benched is to pass up open looks.

“If you turn down an open shot, you’re coming to sit on the bench. That’s how (Pope) coaches. He wants to give these guys tons of freedom and wants them to play off their instincts. So that’s a huge thing for us offensively. Just playing fast, playing in transition, and let these guys make plays and make reads.”

Amari Williams and Lamont Butler enjoy playing with shooters

Amari Williams, the transfer center from Drexel, isn’t one of Kentucky’s elite 3-point weapons. However, Williams is an elite passer who will be kicking it out to Brea and UK’s many other shooters around the perimeter.

“It’s an open floor,” Williams explained. “The defense doesn’t really know what to do. Everyone can shoot. The lane is open, too. We’ve got a lot of guys who can go downhill. Lamont and Otega are really good at that, so it just helps the offense.”

Lamont Butler, UK’s presumed starting point guard, enjoys playing alongside guys that defenders can’t leave open, thus giving him the space to create. When asked to name one teammate in particular who can’t be left open, Butler replied, “That’s everybody. Everybody. Everybody. You can’t back off no one, or it’s going to be 3 and going the other way to play defense.

“Everybody can shoot… These guys can shoot the lights out the ball.”

---

Hear more from the new Wildcats in their summer interviews on KSR’s YouTube channel.