Kerr Kriisa started his first game at point guard Saturday but injured his foot in the second half at Gonzaga. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky overcame a lot of adversity to rally to beat Gonzaga 90-89 Saturday night in Seattle but it might turn out to have been a costly victory.
Fifth-year senior guard Kerr Kriisa injured his foot during the game and Kentucky announced Sunday that he will need surgery.
“Surgery is set to happen in the coming days, and while the injury is not considered to be season-ending, he will be out indefinitely,” the UK release said.
Louisville radio personality Michael Bennett (@justthecatradio on X) said Sunday he had confirmed that Kriisa has what’s called a “Jones fracture” that requires surgery.
“Not serious but extremely painful. A simple procedure will follow where an orthopedic surgeon will correct the fracture with a pin or screw. Will require him to be out for 4-6 weeks,” Bennett posted on X.
Kriisa suffered a non-contact injury about midway of the second half as he was trying to catch a pass in the second half against Gonzaga. He has played in all nine games for the Wildcats averaging 4.4 points and 3.8 assists per game. He made his first start for UK at Gonzaga and had eight points to put him over the 1,000-point career mark.
Kriisa has played in 108 college games and was starting against Gonzaga because starter Lamont Butler was out with an ankle injury.
Kriisa’s injury forced Jaxson Robinson to play point guard the rest of the game against Gonzaga.
Freshman Travis Perry could get more playing time, especially if Butler is not ready to play against Colgate. Or freshman Collin Chandler could get more playing time at two guard if Robinson becomes the backup when Butler does return.
Robinson had 18 points and five assists against Gonzaga and did not have a turnover.
4 Responses
Butler is a very good point guard, but he looks to shoot first and that is not best for Pope’s offense…but it goes deeper than that. In the first half of the Gonzaga game, everybody was standing around waiting for the ball to be thrown to them and then they would look for their shot. This is what most kids are geared to do…look for their own shot first.
Pope’s offense requires the other 4 guys to set screens for each other to get them open for that first pass and then make an immediate second and sometimes third pass to get an open shot on the arc or at the basket. We did that against Wright State and Bucknell because they were weaker opponents. They could pass up shots to get a better shot without being threatened. Against Duke, we went back to one on one play and Carr saved the day. Butler and Oweh had good games too, but that is not Pope ball.
It’s like we feel that we can’t trust teammates to score against the better teams…I will have to do it and save the day. The beauty of Pope ball is that, when played the right way, we could beat the Boston Celtics…consistently. Pope ball will get the guy who receives that third or fourth pass on ESPN’s highlight reel making all of the 3 point shots, but not the guys who make the first, or second, or third pass.
To be fair, it is not just on the point guard to make the first pass, but it is more so on the other guys to be setting screens, popping out or in, and then most of the time make a pass themselves to a guy who has a better shot. This is true team basketball. 100% selflessness. But playing Pope ball is not likely to get you into the NBA…they are looking for scorers not facilitators. Pope will have to make some adjustments or the players will make them for him…as we have seen against Duke, Clemson, and the first half of Gonzaga. It is too much of a transformation from how kids have been coached to play at their other schools. Pope ball did come back in the second half of the Gonzaga game with a Pope disciple at the point. Once the other team sees how Pope ball is working, they try to shut off the first pass and that gives the point guard the best shot. Robinson had 5 assists, no turnovers, and scored half of his 18 points after he took the point spot.
Pope ball will catch on more next year as the returning freshmen are already getting indoctrinated in it. It will catch on even more in Pope’s third season. There will be a big plus and a big minus with this though. In Pope’s third year as coach, the word will be if you want to win an SEC title and have a shot at a national title…go to Kentucky. If you want to play in the NBA…go somewhere else. That means the 4 and 5 star kids will go elsewhere. Pope will be winning with 3 star kids who want to win championships for Kentucky…and they will do this every 3 to 5 years. Under Pope, Kentucky will catch and pass UCLA in national titles won. Kentucky will win SEC titles every 2 to 3 years. Kentucky will remain the all time winningest program in men’s college basketball. This is what BBN wants. This is what Pope is committed to deliver.
Great great great evaluation! I agree! I think Robinson should run the point and Butler should be the 2 guard Oweh the 3 Carr the 4 and Garrison the 5. I honestly think Garrison is better down low than Williams. I see Williams miss lay ups when he can just dunk the damn ball! Its very hard for Brea to create his own shot but if the team played Pope ball he would be open for 3s instead of trying to create a shot. I think Alomonor needs about 5-7 more minutes a game. I think next year we will be even better than this year. Perry, Noah, Chandler, Oweh?, Garrison, Moreno, Johnson, Lewis is 8 major problems. I also believe that Chandler will make a huge jump from year 1 to year 2 and I also believe we will have more guys that can create there own shots better. We will probably add 3-4 great guys from the portal as well. Just think how great Pope will do in the portal when he can really pick and choose!
Barry, you have accurately pointed out specific lack of team ball by multiple players. Pope has a deep (though 3 very inexperienced) bench to make it possible to send a message to players who revert back to their old style of play.
Perry, Chandler & Noah will hopefully step up their game and make it know they can and will compete against the beat. Then the deep bench will make some players realize they will either be 100% “in” with Pope ball or they will sit and watch others who are willing to go all in.
Carr is far above the rest of the team in ANE (Adjusted Net Efficiency) at 0.644. Brea, Butler & Almonar are above 0.400 and Garrison is at 0.360. For the past 20 to 20 years, nearly every team who won the Title had a team ANE above 0.360, which typically will be no more than 4 teams by the end of the season.
Oweh & Robinson are at the bottom of the list of players who are getting the most minutes.
The A:TO at 11:12 vs Clemson was the worst of the season and more like teams the past several years. Some players were very selfish in that loss.
The players who go all in at 100% for Pope ball will be the players who make a run to the FF possible.
The first H of the last 2 games revealed a slower than usual start for UK with limited enthusiasm, very little sharing of the ball and too many individual efforts. Then the 2nd H players realized they need to play as a Team if they want to win.