"My gosh! He made some hard shots tonight": Mark Pope thinks Kentucky have found "best shooter in all of basketball" after upsetting Tennessee

Mark Pope's No. 12 Kentucky Wildcats won 78-73 against No. 8 Tennessee at Food City Center on Tuesday. In the postgame presser, Pope shared his thoughts on the game and highlighted senior guard Koby Brea's shooting prowess.

Brea led the Wildcats with 18 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting from the field, including 3-of-3 from 3-point range. He finished the game with 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 blocks.

"Man, he makes hard shots, doesn't he? It's interesting with these really special gifted shooters," Mark Pope said (0:58).

"I think he's arguably the best shooter in all of basketball in a lot of different aspects. My gosh! He made hard shots tonight. Woof, I mean, he's three-for-three and they were like three."

Since hitting his season best, 23 points and seven 3-pointers, in a win against Florida in the conference opener on Jan. 4, Koby Brea struggled to find his shooting stroke, hitting just 7 of 26 attempts from deep before Kentucky’s win against rival Tennessee on Tuesday night.

"Someone asked me about Kobe — that he hadn't made a ton of shots in the last few games. You know, if that was something that we hadn't spent zero seconds thinking about," Pope joked.

Mark Pope's Kentucky gets a much-needed win after two straight losses

The Kentucky Wildcats had a decent nonconference slate losing only two in 13 games but struggled once SEC play began. They won a conference opener against No. 5 Florida scoring 106 points.

However, on a trip to Georgia on Jan. 7, the Wildcats could not reach 70 points and lost 69-82. In the next two games, Mark Pope's men defeated ranked opponents No. 14 Mississippi State 95-90 and No. 13 Texas A&M 81-69.

Then, Kentucky suffered two tough losses against No. 4 Alabama and No. 24 Vanderbilt. Heading into the matchup with Tennessee, the Wildcats were in desperate need of a win.

They started the game well going 12-4 up in the early minutes, but the Volunteers fought back to take a 33-30 advantage at halftime. With the final 30 seconds remaining and Kentucky leading 74-73, junior guard Otega Oweh hit 4 clutch free throws to seal the victory.

"It was an unbelievable game, really competitive, and big punches on both sides, and we're fortunate to come away with a victory," Pope said (0:42).

Mark Pope and the Wildcats will host Arkansas on Saturday, marking the return of John Calipari to Rupp Arena.