Kentucky lands Koby Brea over UConn, Duke, UNC

Original source (on modern site) | Article images: [1]

Mark Pope talks a lot about finding players who fit, and it's hard to imagine a more perfect match than his eighth commitment in less than three weeks as Kentucky's coach: coveted Dayton transfer Koby Brea. It's a pairing of last season's NCAA leader in 3-point percentage (Brea) and an offensive system that produced the second-most 3-point attempts in Division I last season under Pope (at BYU). This might be the most impressive recruiting victory yet for the Wildcats' new coaching staff.

That's saying something, considering they landed a surprise commitment from former McDonald's All-American center Brandon Garrison, an Oklahoma State transfer, on Tuesday morning. But Brea, a 6-foot-6 wing who is the two-time Atlantic 10 Sixth Man of the Year, picked Kentucky over a pile of other blue bloods. Duke, North Carolina, Kansas and Connecticut were his other listed finalists. He visited UConn, the back-to-back national champs, and canceled a visit to Duke before arriving Monday night in Lexington to visit UK. Pope and company quickly closed the deal on the best shooter in the portal.

Welcome to #BBN, @kobybrea!

📰🔗 https://t.co/RaFuOtCjd6 pic.twitter.com/HTvekxnGsZ

— Kentucky Men's Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) May 1, 2024

Brea was ranked No. 36 in The Athletic's transfer portal rankings. Aidan Mahaney, another strong-shooting guard Kentucky hosted over the weekend, committed to UConn. Mahaney is ranked 40th.

"By the numbers, Koby Brea is the most efficient mid-to-high major player in college basketball in the last decade," Pope said in announcing Brea's signing Wednesday. "He's the best returning shooter in college basketball next year. Koby is a dangerous, dangerous man who is a great human with an incredible family. He will be key in allowing us to play the style of basketball that we love the most. Koby and this group are going to take Big Blue Nation on an incredible ride."

Brea averaged 11.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists last season at Dayton, where he played 113 games and made 224 career 3s at a 43.4 percent clip. Last season, he nearly achieved the rare 50/40/90 shooting split, finishing at 51.2 percent from the field, 49.8 percent from 3 and 87.5 percent at the free-throw line. He led the nation in 3-point percentage and ranked second in true shooting percentage (72.2). Also valuable: He has NCAA Tournament experience. He scored 15 points against Nevada and 14 against Arizona (and made a combined 9 of 16 3s) in this year's tournament.

The Pulse Newsletter

Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox. Sign up

Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox. Sign up

Buy

But Brea wasn't the only commitment for Kentucky on Wednesday.

Shortly after Brea's commitment became public, the Wildcats announced that point guard Kerr Kriisa, who shot 42.4 percent from beyond the arc and has made 238 career 3s, was transferring from West Virginia.

Kriisa, who has started 93 games in four seasons of college basketball — three at Arizona and then one at WVU, has averaged 11.0 points, 4.7 assists and 2.5 rebounds last season for the Mountaineers. He was a key piece of the 2022 Arizona team that won 33 games, won the Pac-12 and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament before getting upset by Houston in the Sweet 16.

In less than three weeks on the job, Pope has landed seven transfers — guards Brea, Kriisa, Lamont Butler (San Diego State) and Otega Oweh (Oklahoma), and forwards Andrew Carr (Wake Forest), Brandon Garrison (Oklahoma State) and Amari Williams (Drexel) — plus incoming freshman guards Collin Chandler and Travis Perry.

The more pressing need now, though, is more perimeter players. Brea was a terrific start, and now Kentucky will be among the favorites to land Pope's best player at BYU, Jaxson Robison, who recently entered the portal.

As it stands, Kentucky already assembled a competitive roster made up of six top-100 transfers — Brea, Garrison, Otega Oweh (Oklahoma), Andrew Carr (Wake Forest), Lamont Butler (San Diego State) and Amari Williams (Drexel) — and incoming freshmen Collin Chandler and Travis Perry, both top-100 recruits. Garrison and Brea are ranked 29th and 36th overall in The Athletic's transfer portal rankings.

The Wildcats, despite a complete roster overhaul, will be one of the most experienced teams in the country next season. Butler has played 131 games with 102 starts; Carr 117 games, 112 starts; Brea 113 games, 21 starts; Williams 105 games, 79 starts; Oweh 60 games, 37 starts; Garrison 32 games, 29 starts; Kriisa, 99 games, 93 starts. Kentucky will only add to those totals with more portal additions in the coming days.

Required reading

• Ranking the best players in the NCAA men's basketball transfer portal
• Kentucky lands former Wake Forest forward Andrew Carr, sixth new player added in 16 days
• Kentucky, Mark Pope earn commitment from San Diego State transfer Lamont Butler

(Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)