Mark Pope believes Trent Noah's shooting skills can 'bail us out' like Koby Brea did last season

Does Kentucky actually have a Koby Brea-level shooter after all?

The talk throughout the offseason has been that Kentucky has enough three-point shooters to still be dangerous, but not an elite, knockdown guy like Brea was last season. As a refresher, Brea shot an SEC-high 43.5 percent from deep on 5.9 attempts per outing for the Wildcats in 2024-25. The 6-foot-7 sniper, now playing for the Phoenix Suns, regularly found ways to end a broken possession with a desperation three-pointer that hit nothing but net.

Could sophomore guard Trent Noah end up filling that Brea role in 2025-26?

“He’s a vet that knows exactly who he is,” Head coach Mark Pope said of Noah after Friday night’s Blue-White Game. “He just brings this calm to our team. I think he’s going to bail us out of situations like Koby did last year.“

Noah, who also won the 3-Point Contest at Big Blue Madness last weekend, sure did look like a veteran during Kentucky’s annual preseason scrimmage. He knocked in a pair of three-pointers for the winning Blue team while adding three assists (with zero turnovers) and two rebounds to his stat line. The legend of Noah’s outside shooting has been growing all offseason long, but he was also more than just a shooter playing out there against his teammates.

“Trent, he’s been one of our best guys in practice every day,” Mo Dioubate said. “Since the beginning of summer to now, he’s probably one of the guys that made the biggest improvement, especially with his confidence. He’s been probably the best shooter in our practice. And he’s only going to be better for us this year.”

Noah has been lighting it up from deep during practice. Pope recently said Noah was shooting in the mid-60s from deep during live five-on-five scrimmages behind closed doors. Pope also added that the Harlan County native was scoring 1.76 points per possession in live reps. It’s now a shock when his shot doesn’t go in — something the Big Blue Nation felt whenever Brea was firing off triples last season for the blue and white.

“I think we think it’s going in every time, right?” Pope said of Noah’s shot. “I think it really is, statistically, going in almost every time.”

Now we just need to see how it translates against another team. We’ll find that out soon enough.

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