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Kerr Kriisa injury update: Mark Pope gives return timeline on Kentucky guard

On3 imageby: Andrew Graham12/13/24AndrewEdGraham
kerr kriisa
Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Kentucky guard Kerr Kriisa will be out for the foreseeable future after having surgery on a Jones fracture in his foot, according to head coach Mark Pope. But he quipped about the optimism for Kriisa to get back soon.

While the official prognosis for Kriisa’s return to play after surgery is around six weeks, Pope joked he’d like to see the guard back by before Christmas. Either way, it’ll be some time before Kriisa can play again.

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“We have the best performance team ever, so Kerr has already had the surgery and we’re kind of like it’s in this, Vegas would say, somewhere around the six week period. I’m saying like 10 days. We’ll see how it goes. So that’s kind of the prognosis on his injury,” Pope said after Kentucky’s win over Colgate on Wednesday, Dec. 11.

Kriisa injured his foot on Saturday, Dec. 7, in a win over Gonzaga.

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Kriisa started against Gonzaga in place of Lamont Butler, who was out with an ankle injury. Kriisa suffered the non-contact injury in the second half and threw away the ball as he fell backward.

Before leaving the game on Saturday, Kriisa tallied eight points, four rebounds and three assists. He also drew two charges, jumping to his feet and celebrating with his teammates each time.

Kriisa has played in all nine of Kentucky’s games this season, averaging 4.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 17.3 minutes per game. While Kriisa’s statistics don’t necessarily jump off the page, Pope has been nothing but complimentary of the veteran point guard this season.

While he’s rehabbing, Kriisa will be a vocal member of the Kentucky team from the bench. Perhaps at the expense of his head coaches sanity, as Kriisa is known for his smack talk.

“And in terms of energy, Kerr is — he might bring more energy to the team on the bench, actually,” Pope said. “He’s going to have to grow into this. I don’t know if he’s sat like this ever before. He can be an incredibly valuable piece to this team right now. We need him. That’s really important. So he’s an important part for us.

“I mean you think about Kerr just sitting on the bench all game long, talking smack. It’s going to be — heaven help us.”