Koby Brea trash-talked Mark Pope after one of his five made 3s

Here’s a crazy stat: Koby Brea went 5-8 from three-point range against Jackson State on Friday night in Rupp Arena. That’s a 62.5 percent mark for a single game. But it actually brought down Brea’s season average.

The Dayton transfer came into the game shooting 78.9 percent from deep. He left shooting *only* 74.1 percent.

“Koby’s in a tough spot, man,” Head coach Mark Pope said after Kentucky’s 108-69 win. “He goes five for eight from the three-point line and it’s destroying his shooting percentage, which is just crazy. I’ve never seen that in my lifetime. He sure is doing special things for us like all of our guys are.”

Brea finished the night with a game-high 22 points. All five of his three-pointers actually came in the final 12:03 of the second half. It was his fifth and final triple that brought out Brea’s huge smile. With Pope standing inches behind him in the corner right next to the Kentucky bench, Brea capped off his incredible night with yet another swish.

He let Pope know about it too.

“One of my many favorite moments tonight, he banged a three right in the corner in front of me and turned around and started talking trash to me,” Pope said. “Which that was awesome! I loved that.”

Brea missed his only shot attempt from deep in the first half, but he did get to the rim twice for some easy buckets. Along with his season-high (and career-high tying) 22 points, the fifth-year guard chipped in two rebounds and a block. He did all this in just 23 minutes off the bench.

Brea is now 20-27 from deep on the season through five games. Is that a sustainable number? History tells us no. But Brea’s shots aren’t even hitting the net. He went 2-4 from deep in the win over Duke. None of this is flukey. Pope’s offense is built to get Brea plenty of clean looks — and he’s made the most of nearly every single one so far.

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