The University of Kentucky earned themselves the No. 3 seed in the Midwest bracket after a strong season going 23-11 under Mark Pope in his first year as head coach of the Wildcats. A team known for its depth, the Wildcats have seen success thanks to a handful of players, including sharpshooting guard Koby Brea.
Brea, a fifth year Dominican-American guard from New York, has been shooting the lights out of the basketball for Kentucky this season following a strong couple of seasons at Dayton.
But before he could get to a point where he was shooting 44.1 percent from three for the Wildcats or 49.8 percent from three for the Dayton Flyers, Brea underwent one of the most challenging injuries in sports. Brea underwent surgery to address stress fractures in both of his tibias after the 2022-23 season. Part of the procedure involved inserting rots to assist in the healing process.
“I think the first two months, I was probably in a wheelchair,” Koby Brea told ClutchPoints in an exclusive interview ahead of the NCAA Tournament. “Then moved on to a walker and then crutches and it was just a big process, learning how to walk again and then how to run again and just all the different movements that you have to do on the basketball court.”
Brea had to learn how to walk and run again, but he never forgot how to shoot. Now, with a career-year under his belt and an ever-developing game, the guard is looking to help his team to the National Championship.
In 34 games this season, including 14 starts, Brea has averaged a 11.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.4 assists while shooting 46.9 percent from the field and 44.1 percent from three. He entered the NCAA Tournament as the ninth best shooter in Division I. Following the first game of March Madness, Brea has totaled 89 three-pointers this season, the eighth most of any player in Wildcats history.
Koby Brea, who was also featured in TurboTax’s March Madness ad this year, sat down with ClutchPoints in the days leading up to the NCAA Tournament to speak about his growth as a player, overcoming the odds in a grueling rehab process, how he unwinds in a pressure-packed tournament, and much more.
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Tomer Azarly: Thanks for taking the time Koby, and best of luck to you in this upcoming NCAA Tournament.
The first thing that stands out to me is just your insane three-point shooting. I know you’re more than just a shooter, but what do you think separates being a great shooter from a good shooter? Because your percentages are off the charts.
Koby Brea: Yeah, I think it’s really just the consistency of my work. I think it’s something that it’s easier said than done, but obviously, a lot of hours of repetition and just being in the gym and finding different ways to find your shot and different foot-works. Whether it’s off-the-bounce or off-the-move, just finding different ways where I can be efficient in my game. Also just studying film, seeing where my shots are coming from and being able to put in the work in the gym based off what I’m seeing in the film.
Tomer Azarly: I think it’s inevitable shooters go shooters go through slumps and hot streaks. How do you handle those? Are you a guy who, at this point, you just trust the work, stuff like that will happen? How do you handle or approach an off night or a hot streak?
Koby Brea: I feel like either of those two situations don’t really affect me. For me, my routine doesn’t change. I’m still I’m still gonna go through the same routine. I always go through practicing, my personal workout, shooting, and just everything I do I try to be as consistent as possible so I don’t let a bad game a good game you affect anything or change anything. I feel like that’s probably one of the best things I do just trying to be consistent in my work and consistent in everything I do and eventually, everything will take care of itself.
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Tomer Azarly: Now, as a fifth-year player, like, how has your role evolved over the years? Not everyone’s a star right away, and you’ve clearly developed into a key player for the Wildcats, but how has your leadership grown and how have you just evolved in general over the years?
Koby Brea: Honestly for me it’s been a process. My first couple of years, I think I was kind of just soaking everything in, trying to learn as much as possible, which I still am, but I feel like now at this point in my career, I’m kind of like a veteran in college basketball. So I’m just using my knowledge to feed the younger guys. And also just understanding what the coaches want from us. That way, it’s a lot easier to be able to help my team in the best way possible and just knowing what’s needed for me as a player as well. I know that a lot of my impact comes from the offensive end with my shooting, but there’s also other ways I can impact the game and I feel like I’ve been doing a better job with that, just guarding the ball, rebounding, and just finding other ways to be effective for my team.
Tomer Azarly: That was actually my follow-up. I was going to say, obviously you shoot the ball at a very, very high clip and you’re an offensive weapon, but what are some other parts of your game that you think might be underrated or doesn’t get talked about enough?
Koby Brea: I think my playmaking, for sure. And then also my defense and rebounding. I feel like it’s been a work in progress that recently. I’ve been doing a lot better in. But I’ll say my playmaking. A lot of times people see me as a shooter, but I feel like this year, I’ve been able to really use shot fakes to just put the defense on their heels and then not just create for myself, but create for others too when the opportunity presents itself.
Tomer Azarly: Given that you’re such a threat from downtown, have you seen defenses adjust to how they defend you and then have you seen other opportunities open up just solely based off how they may have changed their defensive coverages on you?
Koby Brea: Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think a lot of teams, they’ve been choosing to like top-lock me coming off of actions where I’m coming for shots and I feel like that’s really just opened up another layer for my team, really. Because now our big man’s just slipping out of those screens and a lot of times when I’m coming off an off-the-ball screen, like, two guys will come off to me and they’ll leave the big man that’s screening, so it kind of just opens up that action for us and I feel like it’s helped out our team a lot because, like I said, now the action isn’t just working for me if I do come off really for a shot, but it’s also working for the bigs coming off those screens and just heading straight to the rim and getting dunked and layups.
Tomer Azarly: You’re still just 22 and you want to work on every part of your game, but what is the next step for you? What do you see as the next priority or what is some of the feedback that you’re getting about the next step in your game?
Koby Brea: I’d say probably just becoming like a 3-and-D type of player. Really establishing myself as a defender, becoming a better defender, and just continuing to evolve my offensive game as well. Just using my shooting as a weapon to do other things as well, get to my floaters, get to mid-ranges, and get to the rim too, so I think with time just continuing to work on it, I think everything will come together for sure.
Tomer Azarly: You mentioned 3-and-D. Are there any types of players that you watch maybe at the NBA level that you kind of model your game after?
Koby Brea: Yeah, I like watching Klay Thompson a lot. He’s a veteran guy that he’s been doing it for a long time and I see a lot of similarities in myself when I watch him. Also Devin Booker. Just watching him come out of college and how he used his shooting to open up more things for the game. Obviously, those are two guys that can really sit down and guard as well. So those are definitely some guys that I admire and like watching.
Tomer Azarly: Some pretty good player comps right there.
Now, you went through you went through a pretty rough time with the with the tibia stress fractures in both legs. How did you find out about those injuries and what was the recovery process like for you, getting back from something in not just one leg but both legs?
Koby Brea: Honestly it was pretty tough. I had found out about it the year before and we were already in season so I kind of just wanted to finish the season off, so I kept playing through it, but once the season ended, I knew I was going to have to get the surgery done. It took about six months for me to get back to playing at a pretty comfortable level. I think around the first two months, I was probably in a wheelchair. Then I moved on to a walker, then crutches, and it was just a big process learning how to walk again and then how to run again and just all the different movements that you have to do on the basketball court. But it definitely taught me just to have a different level of patience with yourself in the rehab process, and also just a different level of gratitude because it definitely opened my eyes not being able to walk to the bathroom on my own. It’s a lot of things that you take for granted on a daily basis. Most of it really was just being consistent with my rehab and learning how to treat my body, the things that I needed at the time, and things that really have helped me to this day because I wasn’t really taking my recovery too serious during my first couple of years in college. Going through that injury has really like changed the whole thing for me, honestly.
Tomer Azarly: You mentioned that you found out the year before, but you decided to play through the season. Was that just a pain tolerance thing? There’s no like risk of like worsening it or anything like that?
Koby Brea: Oh, there was a there was a risk, but I also… Like I love the game of basketball and at that moment, I felt like there was nothing that was going to not allow me to finish my season. The risk was really just completely snapping my tibias because they were so weak at the time with the stress fractures, but all thanks to God that didn’t happen and surgery was successful. Here we are now.
Tomer Azarly: Wow. I mean, yeah, thank goodness you were able to close out the season.
When you’re going through the recovery process, I’m sure there are days where you feel like you can’t get through this or, “why me?” What are some things that helped you or who are some people maybe around you helped you get over that mental hurdle and remember that the the end goal is you getting back on the court. You walking first, but then running and then getting back on the court?
Koby Brea: I mean it’s definitely tough times and you gotta have the right people around you. So for me, it was just my family and my girlfriend, having them around. My family was with me the first couple of weeks, but after that they had to go back home and it was just me and my girlfriend every day. She was just taking care of me, taking me around in my wheelchair, and just keeping me in a positive place. Just keeping my energy right because like you said, when you’re going through all that and you wake up and you can’t even get out of your bed and walk, like it’s really easy to get down on yourself, but when you have the right people around you, they kind of just make everything better. So I’m somebody that loves to laugh and smile and I have people around me that allow me to do those things. It just makes everything better.
Tomer Azarly: So I imagine something like that obviously takes a lot of mental toughness. What did you learn about yourself throughout the process about the mental toughness it took to get through that?
Koby Brea: I definitely didn’t feel like I learned this, because I knew I’ve always been a tough kid growing up. I definitely knew and I guess it just confirmed it a little bit more, just with everything I had to go through. Also, it definitely showed me how much love I really have for the game of basketball because there were a lot of times where, in talking to other people, they were like, ‘If they had to go through what I went through like they would have stopped playing.’ And that was never a thought going through my head for me. Everything was just, ‘I can’t wait to get back on the court. I can’t wait to get back on the court.’ So that was definitely a motivating factor for me just thinking about getting back on the court and just being healthy and not having to worry about the pain that I was dealing with at the time.
Tomer Azarly: What about your body? Did you learn anything about your body and maybe dieting differently or doing certain things? I know you mentioned you weren’t maybe taking care of the postgame recovery as much before. Did you change that after the surgeries?
Koby Brea: Yeah, most definitely. I mean, now, recovery is such a special thing and everything I do, making sure it’s really the little things, just getting the right amount of sleep. People don’t value that enough in recovery, but also just being able to utilize all the other recovery tools that are being given to you, especially being here at the University of Kentucky, they do a really good job of providing us with a lot of different ways of treating us and I take full advantage of it which is honestly something that I probably wouldn’t have done the first couple years of my college career because coming out of high school, you’re just always ready to play basketball. You’re not thinking about stretching, you’re not thinking about mobility sessions, weight room training. You’re not even thinking about any of that, but going through that whole process definitely opened up my eyes to why those things are so important.
Tomer Azarly: Did you have a moment where you got back on the court after this long recovery and you went, ‘Oh. Oh yeah, I’m back.
Koby Brea: I think there was a couple a couple games where I felt really good about myself last year, but I think it’s really been this year just because I took some extra time this summer to really make sure my body was right, conditioning-wise and strength-wise. So I took some time off playing basketball and just focused on my body and I feel like that has really helped me out throughout the year. I’m thinking it’s really allowed me to just perform at my best throughout the entire year so I wouldn’t pinpoint a specific game or a specific moment, but I think just every little weight room session I did, every little treatment session I did, I noticed that was part it.
Tomer Azarly: How do you prepare for a tournament like this. Obviously, there’s a lot of pressure but like how do you prepare for for a tournament of this magnitude?
Koby Brea: Really the biggest thing is just really embracing everything that’s going on. Obviously, it’s a big opportunity and it’s a big blessing to be able to play, so obviously a big tournament especially with this team. I’m just trying to really look forward to staying excited about it and also come in with an underdog mentality knowing that any game could end our season. For me personally, I want to make sure that I do it the right way. I feel like there were a lot of sacrifices I made this year to just put myself in this position and help my team get in this position and I feel like it’s only right that we go out the right way, so yeah I’d say probably just keeping the underdog mentality every single game.
Tomer Azarly: Last one I got for you is given these high-pressure situations, how do you unwind in after a game? How do you kind of get out of you own head, get away from basketball? What do you do to relax?
Koby Brea: I’ll essentially just give a phone call to my family or my girlfriend. Those are people that keep me sane and they don’t let me get too high or too low. I definitely love spending time with them if they’re around. I’m somebody that loves to hang out with great people so just anybody that pours into me, I’m gonna do the same for them. I love the game of basketball, but obviously it’s important to still keep yourself away sometimes and keep your your life balanced. You don’t want to be all about basketball either. That’s something I’ve also learned throughout these last two years and I feel like that’s really helped me out a lot so I say those two things. Really just hanging out with family and my friends.
The post March Madness Exclusive: Kentucky sharpshooter Koby Brea on journey from wheelchair to a top shooter in the nation appeared first on ClutchPoints.
