Pope’s ‘lethal’ weapon strikes against Bucknell. And he’ll be huge for the Cats’ future.

Embarrassed that he wasn’t positive about his own math on the fly, Mark Pope asked for an assist.

“Who’s got a calculator?” the Kentucky basketball coach inquired after his Wildcats defeated Bucknell 100-72 in Rupp Arena on Saturday evening. “What’s 20 divided by 11? … It’s 1.8 what?”

Pope was trying to figure out exactly how efficient the leading scorer of the night, Koby Brea, had been in his second game as a UK basketball player. The 20 was Brea’s point total. The 11, his number of shots from the field. Since he attempted no free throws and committed no turnovers — the two other variables when trying to figure a player’s individual “points per possession” number — the math was rather simple. So what is 20 divided by 11?

“1.8,” a reporter replied.

“It’s 1.8 what?” Pope asked.

“1.81,” was the response.

“1.818 or …” Pope said, seeking further clarification.

Yes, the correct answer was 1.818.

“So it’s 1.82 then!” Pope said excitedly, to laughter from the crowd. “Don’t cheat my guy! He’s a 1.82 points per possession. Guys, if you don’t know analytics, that’s sick. That’s crazy.”

Wherever you’d like to stop reading the decimal, Pope’s point was valid.

“I told you guys all summer — he’s the most efficient player in college basketball,” the Kentucky coach said of Brea, who made 100 3-pointers at a 49.8% percent clip at Dayton last season and came to UK for his final year of college basketball hoping to thrive even more within Pope’s forward-thinking offensive approach.

So far, so good.

Brea was 6-for-8 on 3-pointers against the Bison on Saturday, five days after hitting all four of his long-range attempts in UK’s season-opening, 103-62 victory over Wright State.

On Monday night, Brea delighted the Rupp Arena crowd with his 3-point shooting prowess. After he let his fourth 3-pointer fly in that one, he turned around to look at Kentucky fans courtside instead of watching the ball go through the net.

On Saturday evening, he had just as much fun.

With the Cats up 61-44 in the second half, Brea grabbed a defensive rebound and brought the ball up the court. He dished it ahead to Kerr Kriisa, who took one dribble and dropped a behind-the-back return pass to Brea, who threw a no-look pass to 7-foot center Amari Williams, who cut toward the rim and let loose a bullet to Ansley Almonor in the corner.

Almonor immediately swung the ball back to a wide-open Kriisa on the wing, and — instead of shooting the ball himself — Kriisa threw it to Brea on the other side of the court. Brea pump-faked a Bucknell defender down the court, started to drive the ball and then stepped back to take a 3-pointer instead.

That was all done in a matter of 11 seconds. Brea’s shot went in. And the Rupp crowd roared.

The four players who touched the ball during that sequence had a combined 15 years of college basketball experience before they teamed up this season at Kentucky.

“Early on in your career, you’re kind of trying to make things happen on your own,” Brea said. “And as you continue to play the game — especially with other guys that are also experienced — you kind of just let the game come to you a little bit. You know the ball is going to find the right person if you play the right way.”

A few minutes later, Brea grabbed another rebound and brought the ball up. It found its way around the perimeter again, eventually landing with Kriisa, who passed up another wide-open shot at the top of the key, throwing a no-look touch pass to Brea on the wing. Nothing but net.

Kriisa and Brea casually pointed to each other and trotted back on defense. Kentucky led 75-50, and Bucknell head coach John Griffin III called for a timeout.

Brea turned to the Rupp crowd and made the hand signal for a timeout as he walked to the UK bench.

Before he took the Bucknell job last year, Griffin was the top assistant at Saint Joseph’s, and he saw Brea plenty of times in Atlantic 10 play.

“So I am more familiar than most as it relates to Koby Brea and his 3-point shooting prowess,” Griffin said. “Having scouted Koby Brea before, I have not seen him miss twice in a row. … He’s a professional shooter, make no mistake about it, and I think they recruited him knowing that he was the best shooter in the nation from a 3-point percentage standpoint.”

Brea’s ability to fill it up from deep was well established before he landed in Lexington, but he’s seemingly doubly dangerous now that he’s playing in Pope’s system, surrounded by capable shooters — and unselfish passers — at all times when he’s on the court.

“It’s a lot of fun, man,” Brea said, adding that watching the ball whip around in UK’s offense is even more thrilling than being the guy who hits the shot to end such possessions. “Just being able to swing the ball to each other — that’s the way the game is supposed to be played.”

Two days before this game, Pope was asked about identifying unselfishness when putting a team together, and he spoke for nearly four minutes straight on the subject. It came up again in Saturday’s postgame press conference. This time, Pope said he didn’t like “unselfish” to be the word that defines how his Wildcats play.

“It’s not the right way to describe it,” he said. “We have a group of guys that love each other. They love walking into this gym in front of BBN. They love putting a Kentucky jersey on their chest. They love making each other look good. They love cheering for each other. And when you have a group like that, it could be really fun.

“I think our fan base is going to feel that more and more from this team. And I think it’s pretty special.”

What’s even more special about Brea’s situation is that he did what he did Saturday while coming off the bench, a role he’s perfectly fine playing. The two-time A-10 Sixth Man of the Year at Dayton can sit and watch a game unfold from the sideline in the opening minutes and plan out how to attack the defense when he checks in.

And when the Wildcats play the likes of Duke — the team they’ll face Tuesday night in Atlanta — or Gonzaga or Clemson or Louisville or Ohio State or the countless ranked SEC foes on their schedule, having a guy like that who can come in and provide a spark will be invaluable for Pope and his coaching staff.

“We feel that way about our whole roster, right?” the UK coach said of his incredibly deep squad. “It’s a great feeling as a coach — that you actually have guys coming in that are going to attack in different ways, but they’re going to be really, really potent.

“And speaking of Koby, specifically, if your elite-level shooters aren’t making shots early, you have a guy coming off the bench who’s the best shooter in college basketball. It’s pretty fun, right? That’s a good scenario.”

Griffin was even more to the point after his team’s 28-point loss.

“Koby Brea is just a lethal threat from beyond the 3-point line,” he said. “… And I think that’ll be such an important piece of the puzzle for Kentucky going forward.”

There were a lot of positives for UK on Saturday evening.

Five Wildcats scored in double figures, led by Brea’s 20 points. Williams tallied a second straight double-double, putting up 13 points and 14 rebounds, setting the tone — UK beat Bucknell 57-35 on the boards— after Pope lamented his team’s so-so rebounding start to the season earlier in the week.

Kriisa tied a career high with 12 assists, continuing to relish his role as a sparkplug backup point guard to get the Cats moving offensively. He now has 17 assists and three turnovers in two games as a Wildcat.

On this night, Brea was the top scorer. In game one, it was Otega Oweh. And on Tuesday against Duke, it could very well be someone else.

As Pope was walking out of the Rupp Arena interview area Saturday night, he passed by the scrum surrounding Brea and shouted: “Koby — 1.82 points per possession!”

“Damn. That’s pretty good,” Brea replied with a smile. “That’s pretty good.”

“That’s freakin’ ridiculous,” Pope said as he walked away.

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