That time Kerr Kriisa went up against Luka Doncic and said, "It's easy to get into his head"

Former Arizona/West Virginia point guard Kerr Kriisa is one of those players that college basketball fans love to hate—unless he is on their team. Today, Big Blue Nation, he joined our team, becoming the ninth member of Mark Pope’s first class in Lexington and the second to commit on Wednesday, following Koby Brea for an afternoon double-boom. An Estonian-born point guard, Kerr Kriisa is the son of Estonian basketball legend Valmo Kriisa, who named his son after his favorite Chicago Bull–Dennis Rodman. Just kidding. Steve Kerr, obviously.

Kerr Kriisa can shoot like his NBA namesake. In his one season as a Mountaineer in 2023-24, he shot 42.4 percent from outside. Kriisa is also a flashy passer. With that European court vision, he averaged 4.9 assists per game over the previous three seasons.

But let’s talk about that passion he plays with. Yeah, we’ll call it passion. Kriisa has a lot of it:

pic.twitter.com/ny1ncZBIp0

— @davidblattman (@hxjakss) March 11, 2023

As you see in the clip, he’s the type to tell his home crowd they’re not loud enough. On the road, he’ll tell the away crowd about a 3-pointer he just made, and the one he will hit next. He’ll talk trash with anyone, which is why he’s a villain to many and a fan favorite in his home arena. As I said, fans love to hate him unless he’s on their side.

Now that he is on Kentucky’s side, I will share with you the best example of Kriisa’s willingness to go back and forth with anyone. He was playing for the Estonia National Team at the 2022 FIBA World Cup qualifiers, where he drew a difficult matchup with Luka Doncic in a friendly against Slovenia. Yes, that Luka Doncic, the one who is a finalist for the NBA’s MVP award again.

As reported by BasketNews.com at the time, Kriisa confronted Doncic early in the game as Doncic complained to the official after fouling one of Kriisa’s teammates. Kriisa approached Doncic with a wagging finger, expressing his disapproval of Doncic trying to use his NBA status to sway what was a clear foul.

After the game, Kriisa made headlines for saying, “We don’t let people just step on us. Otherwise, we could have just stayed in Estonia and not even come here. If somebody says something to us, we talk back.”

And the one that really stuck, Kriisa added, “He showed a reaction, so it means it’s pretty easy to get into his head too.”

Kriisa scored a team-high 14 points in Estonia’s loss.

So, Big Blue Nation, you may quickly grow to love the new guard for his passion and fearless attitude. I suspect he’ll be very popular throughout BBN in that Kentucky vs. Duke Champions Classic game in November.

Go Cats.