Former Dayton guard heading to SEC for his final season

Brea, a 6-foot-6 fourth-year guard from Washington Heights, N.Y., made his decision 15 days after entering the transfer portal. He played the last four years at Dayton and ranks 69th in career scoring at UD with 889 points.

Brea led the nation in 3-point shooting percentage last season (100 of 201, 49.8%) and ranked third on the team in scoring with 11.1 points per game. He twice won the Atlantic 10 Conference Sixth Man of the Year award.

Brea picked Kentucky from a list of final five schools that also included Connecticut, Duke, Kansas and North Carolina. He visited UConn last weekend, according to reports, but cancelled a planned visit to Duke before traveling to Lexington, Ky., early this week.

Brea was one of five Dayton players to enter the portal this spring. The other four Flyers to enter the portal were: Zimi Nwokeji, who committed to Jacksonville; Petras Padegimas, who committed to Mercer; Kobe Elvis who committed to Oklahoma; and Nate Santos, who has yet to pick new schools.

Elvis and Brea are the second and third Dayton players in the seven years coach Anthony Grant has led the program to transfer to a Power 5 school. Rodney Chatman left for Vanderbilt in 2021.

Brea will play for a new Kentucky coach, Mark Pope, who coached against Brea and the Flyers when he was coaching Brigham Young at the Battle 4 Atlantis in 2022. Dayton blew a 23-point lead in a 79-75 overtime loss.

Kentucky hired Pope when John Calipari left for Arkansas. Pope has rebuilt the UK roster through the transfer portal, adding six players, including Brea.

“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 press release on Kentucky’s website. “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.”