Koby Brea's second-half takeover fueled Kentucky past Illinois: 'We don't win that game without him.'

Koby Brea has gone from a role player early in the season to Kentucky’s go-to scorer in March Madness.

There wasn’t a better player on the floor Sunday night in Milwaukee than Brea. The fifth-year guard matched his career-high 23 points in the Wildcats’ 84-75 Round of 32 win over Illinois. The Dayton transfer shot 10-16 from the field, including a 3-8 mark from deep, to go along with six rebounds, one assist, and one steal in 36 minutes.

Brea was steady on both ends of the floor all night long, but he put the team on his back during a key stretch in the second half.

With Kentucky ahead by nine and just under 12 minutes to go, Brea caught fire with a personal 10-0 kill shot run. He scored on four consecutive possessions: a pair of three-pointers and a pair of mid-range jumpers. By the time he could cool down, the ‘Cats led by 16 points with 9:32 left in regulation. He was carving up the Illinois defense through ballscreen action, knocking down every look they gave him. When the Illini tried to run him off the arc, he’d confidently step in for cleaner shots.

It was an offensive masterclass.

“To do what he did tonight is just extraordinary,” Head coach Mark Pope said postgame. “I think he’s the best shooter in college basketball. He’s in the process of becoming an elite-level cutter and to his teammates’ credit, guys were setting big-time screens, and then he just has big-time poise.

“I don’t know if any of us ever at the rec league have felt what he felt tonight in the second half. We don’t win that game without him on the offensive and defensive side of the ball.”

KOBY BREA CELEBRATES WITH BBN ! pic.twitter.com/aVU3tQAxjF

— Mario A Maitland (@MarioMaitland_3) March 23, 2025

Brea has morphed into a completely different player than he was in November. His status as the best outside shooter in college basketball hasn’t fallen off, but he’s added new titles to his name. He’s a playmaker now and a guy who can run the offense. This isn’t just a spot-up shooter anymore — this is a future NBA player.

“It honestly felt really good, but at the end of the day, you’re just focused on the game and winning the game,” Brea said. “So those things just kind of happen as you’re competing. My teammates, I really felt — I mean I felt it this whole year, honestly, but just today, they really kept feeding me and I could see how much they trust me. How much confidence they put in me. They want to see me keep going, especially when I get hot like that. It means everything to me and honestly it makes me a better player just knowing that they have my back.”

As great as he’s been offensively the last several weeks, Pope refuses to let his defensive progress go unnoticed. Brea was solid once again on that end of the floor against Illinois’ bevy of talented guards. He wasn’t always perfect, but he never stopped fighting around screens or walling up his man on drives to the rim.

“The easy answer for me is Koby Brea,” Pope said when asked why Kentucky’s team defense has been able to improve so much down the stretch of the season. “Koby Brea all the sudden started saying ‘I’m taking this personal. I’m gonna take every single defensive possession personal.’ And after we came home from Ole Miss, he went through two straight practices where — we start practice with banner behavior, which is essentially just some skills but it’s before we’ve got fully warm.

“And he came out in banner behavior and was flying around, diving on the floor, and he just changed and it became not a job but it became something insanely personal to him. When things didn’t go right defensively, he was going to take it incredibly personal.”

And the Big Blue Nation can be thankful he did. Brea is playing the best basketball of his college career at the perfect time. His all-around effort has the ‘Cats in the Sweet 16 for the first time in six years.

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.