Koby Brea had an uncharacteristally cold night from outside against Georgia State, hitting only two of his seven 3-point tries in Kentucky‘s win. The fifth-year senior broke out of his funk with a 3 in front of the Wildcats’ bench late in the game, to which Mark Pope said, “He always hits them right in front of the bench. I think he’s got a thing with me.”
Brea still scored 10 points, adding three assists and two rebounds to his line in the win. He also had the highest plus/minus on the team with a +26 off the bench. After the game, Pope said it was Brea’s defense that impressed him most.
Brea had the tough second-half assignment of guarding Zarique Nutter, Georgia State’s leading scorer, and Brea made two key plays in the matchup. First, Brea blocked Nutter’s high floater from the right block, which then hit Nutter out of bounds for a turnover. Rupp Arena erupted for the stop.
Then a couple minutes later, Brea drew a charge on Nutter as Nutter tried to drive around Brea from the right wing, sending Rupp Arena into another frenzy. The foul was Nutter’s fifth, thus the end of his 19-point night.
Pope told Tom Leach that the team complimented Brea for his defense and taking the charge, only to learn something they didn’t know about their teammate: It was the first time Brea had taken a charge in his five-year college career.
Pope said, “We were complimenting him after the game, and he revealed to our team–you know, he’s a fifth-year senior, and he was like, ‘guys, that was the first charge I’ve ever taken.’ So, you guys were all here to witness Koby Brea’s first charge ever. He was so hyped about it and I’m sure it won’t be his last. That’s why you come to Kentucky, man.”
Pope also liked how Brea got downhill when his shot wasn’t falling, like the time he drove the lane and threw it down to extend Kentucky’s second-half lead to 19.
It was a weird night inside Rupp Arena, one that included a sloppy start and a rowdy finish leading to a blowout victory for the Kentucky Wildcats over the Georgia State Panthers. There was a fight, free ice cream and everything in between.
How did Mark Pope coach his team to another win en route to a 7-0 start on the year, the team’s best since 2016-17 and one victory away from the best start since 2014-15? How about some of the other highlights? KSR’s got the ten best things from the win.
1. Clash Peters gets bullied into oblivion
You hate to punch down on a zero-star kid playing for Georgia State, but when you’re a dirty basketball player whose uncle also happens to be a Duke villain with a similarly stupid name, it happens. Cherokee Parks’ nephew, Clash Peters, became enemy No. 1 of Big Blue Nation on Friday for undercutting Amari Williams on a pass inside leading to a brouhaha resulting in technicals also called on Koby Brea, Otega Oweh and Zarique Nutter of the Panthers. Mark Pope even got out there to split players up and cool down the emotions before things got any further out of hand.
