Kentucky guard Koby Brea has been ranked as the No. 1 3-point shooter in college basketball by Andy Katz of NCAA March Madness. 

Last season, Brea averaged 11.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists while shooting 51.2% from the field, a blistering 49.8% from 3 and 87.5% from the free throw line in 33 games while making four starts as the Flyers earned a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Round of 32. In Dayton’s two NCAA Tournament games, Brea averaged 14.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.5 steals while shooting 55.6% from the field and 56.3% from 3. On the year, Brea made 100 of 201 3-pointers. 

The NCAA’s top 3-point shooter by percentage will suit up for a Kentucky squad under new UK head coach Mark Pope, whose BYU team ranked second nationally in 3-point attempts per game last season. 

“Koby Brea belongs at Kentucky playing for our system,” Pope said. “There’s some guys you think God invented this person to come play the way we play. Koby Brea is the most efficient offensive player in the last decade of college basketball. He’s a 1.33, the next guy is a 1.31. You can’t even comprehend what he did last year.”

A native of Washington Heights, New York, the 6-foot-6, 205-pound guard has played in 113 career collegiate games with 21 starts, averaging 7.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.1 assists while shooting 43.4% from beyond the arc with 224 career 3-point makes.

Ranked as a top 100 transfer in the transfer portal by 247Sports, Brea chose the Wildcats over fellow blue bloods Connecticut, Duke, Kansas, and North Carolina. 

“That was the biggest draw for me. I was probably coming here just to see how perfect the system was for me,” Brea said. “Coach Pope did a great job of explaining to me where I can excel in the offense, the hit system in general, and the defensive system as well. I’m really excited not only for me but, man, we have shooters all over the court, so it’s going to be hard for teams to stop one person because you’re going to have to worry about four others at the same time.”

After losing all 13 scholarship players from last season’s roster to graduation, the NBA Draft or the transfer portal, Pope’s inaugural 9-man transfer class was ranked No. 4 nationally by 247Sports and also features No. 23 Brandon Garrison (Oklahoma State), No. 34 Otega Oweh (Oklahoma), No. 36 Jaxson Robinson, No. 48 Lamont Butler (San Diego State), No. 71 Andrew Carr (Wake Forest), No. 88 Amari Williams (Drexel), No. 126 Kerr Kriisa (West Virginia), and No. 319 Ansley Almonor (Fairleigh Dickinson).

In addition, Pope has also signed former BYU signee Collin Chandler, who is coming off a 2-year Mormon mission, Kentucky Mr. Basketball, the state’s all-time leading scorer and 4-star guard Travis Perry from state champion Lyon County, as well as Harlan County 4-star and former South Carolina signee Trent Noah to bring the Wildcats’ number of scholarship players to 12. 

Kentucky is ranked No. 23 in ESPN’s Way-Too-Early Top 25 and will play a non-conference schedule that includes the likes of Duke at the Champions Classic in Atlanta, at Clemson in the ACC-SEC Challenge, Gonzaga in Seattle, Louisville at Rupp Arena, and Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden.