One of college basketball’s best 3-point shooters commits to UK from the transfer portal

cameron drummond

Wed, May 1, 2024, 1:45 PM·6 min read

One of the best 3-point shooters in all of college basketball will be a Kentucky Wildcat next season.

On Wednesday, former Dayton guard Koby Brea announced his commitment to UK from the NCAA transfer portal. Brea has one year of college eligibility left after playing the last four seasons at Dayton.

Brea’s commitment came following a recruiting visit to Lexington to meet with new Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope and learn more about the UK program.

With Brea’s addition, Kentucky’s roster for next season, which will be Pope’s first as the Wildcats’ coach, numbered eight players, including six transfer portal pickups. That number increased to nine later Wednesday when UK added another veteran guard, West Virginia transfer Kerr Kriisa.

Along with Brea and Kriisa, the Wildcats are bringing in first-year guards Collin Chandler and Travis Perry, third-year guard Otega Oweh (Oklahoma), fifth-year guard Lamont Butler (San Diego State), fifth-year forwards Amari Williams (Drexel) and Andrew Carr (Delaware and Wake Forest) and second-year center Brandon Garrison (Oklahoma State).

Brea will arrive in Lexington with certified shooting chops.

The 6-foot-7, 205-pound guard made 100 3-pointers in 33 games for Dayton last season. He made 49.8% of his 3-point attempts, which put him third in the country in 3-point shooting percentage, according to KenPom.

“By the numbers, Koby Brea is the most efficient mid-to-high major player in college basketball in the last decade,” Pope said in a UK news release announcing Brea’s arrival. “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 made an average of three 3-pointers per game for the Flyers last season.

“Growing up, I was told I was dreaming too big whenever I’d say my dream was to play for the University of Kentucky,” Brea told ESPN following his commitment. “I feel like God does everything for a reason, and he has put me in a position where I’m able to play for my dream school in my last year of college, while playing for something bigger than myself.”

Other standout offensive statistics for Brea include a 71.5% effective field goal percentage (second in the nation last season) and a 72.2% true shooting percentage (also second in the nation last season). He attempted more than six 3-pointers per game for the Flyers, who were a 7 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament and reached the round of 32.

Brea showed up in March Madness as well: He went 9-for-16 on 3-pointers in Dayton’s two NCAA Tournament games, a win over Nevada and a loss to 2-seeded Arizona.

Overall, Brea (a 21-year-old who is originally from New York City) averaged 11.1 points and 3.8 rebounds last season at Dayton. He shot 51.2% from the field and averaged more than 29 minutes played per game.

Brea is a two-time winner of the Atlantic 10 Conference’s sixth man of the year award.

He was one of the most coveted players in the NCAA transfer portal this offseason after playing four seasons at Dayton. Brea, a career 43.4% 3-point shooter who has 33 career games in which he’s made at least three 3-pointers, entered the transfer portal April 15.

A prolific distance shooter, Brea is ranked by college basketball statistician Evan Miyakawa as the No. 82 overall transfer portal player, as of Wednesday morning.

Given his shooting prowess, Brea appears to be a great fit within Pope’s style of offense. Last season, BYU finished second nationally with 32 3-point attempts per game and the Cougars were 14th in the nation in offensive efficiency, per KenPom.

“(Pope’s) style of play complements my strengths as a basketball player,” Brea told ESPN. “He’s proven to be one of the best when it comes to utilizing the 3-pointer. There’s nobody in college basketball who can shoot off the catch, off the bounce and off the move all together the way I do.”

Brea (who was unranked as a high school recruit in the 2020 recruiting class) previously released a list of his final five schools out of the transfer portal. That list included Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, North Carolina and UConn.

Originally, Brea only planned to take recruiting visits to Duke and UConn. The UConn visit happened last weekend. The Duke visit, which had been scheduled for this week, was canceled.

On Monday night, CBS Sports writer Matt Norlander reported UConn was no longer recruiting Brea after landing former Saint Mary’s guard Aidan Mahaney, who also received recruiting interest from UK.

Brea’s reported recruiting visit to Kentucky was confirmed when he was seen with members of the Kentucky basketball coaching staff Monday night at Fayette County’s Blue Grass Airport.

“In this process, everything moves so quickly,” Brea told ESPN about his time in the transfer portal. “It was important for me to take my time and prioritize what I needed to take this next step in my career. I feel fortunate to have had these incredible schools recruit me to be a part of their program. And I am proud to commit to my dream school and become a Kentucky Wildcat.”

Pope essentially has a blank slate from which to construct his first Kentucky basketball roster for next season: All 10 of the underclassmen from the Wildcats’ 2023-24 team have already either declared for the NBA draft or entered the transfer portal.

While Pope continues to do his own work in the transfer portal, the dust has settled when it comes to the playing destinations for all six original members of Kentucky’s 2024 high school recruiting class.

Only one recruit from that group, constructed by former head coach John Calipari, will play for Pope at UK. That’s Travis Perry, an in-state guard and the all-time leading scorer in Kentucky high school boys basketball history.

Three of those recruits — Boogie Fland, Karter Knox and Billy Richmond — have committed to play for Calipari at his new school, Arkansas.

On Monday afternoon, another of those recruits, Jayden Quaintance, announced he would be going to Arizona State. On Monday night, the final recruit from this group, Somto Cyril, committed to Georgia.