The injury bug just won’t leave Kentucky alone. Mark Pope and his squad are getting ready for SEC play vs. the Florida Gators on Sat. Jan 4th after finishing off non-conference play with Brown. But the No. 10 ranked Wildcats will not be at full strength vs. the No. 6 Gators, especially with Kerr Kriisa out indefinitely. Pope has confirmed that the point guard has undergone the foot surgery he was due for, but his return has not been specified yet. Is the injury season-ending then?

At his weekly press conference on Thursday morning, Pope revealed that he was taking Kriisa’s case day-by-day and might only make a decision just before the Florida game. “In my mind, he’s a game-time decision for Saturday. But sometimes I live in a little bit of a fantasy land. We’ll see. We’ll see how that goes. You know, this is a major deal, and so it’s going to be — it’ll take some time.”

Kriisa suffered an injury in the second half of the Dec. 7 game vs. Gonzaga in Seattle. Although the Wildcats won in overtime, the team announced the next day that the Estonian player was set to undergo surgery and afterward, his return time was expected to be six weeks. Kriisa and Lamont Butler were big parts of Kentucky’s win against a team like the Zags as Kriisa was averaging 4.4 points and a team-high 3.8 assists in 17.3 minutes per game at the time.

It also marked the 6’3″ point guard’s first start with the Wildcats, after he had transferred to Kentucky in a backup role. Before this, Kriisa had been a starter at Arizona and West Virginia and started 93 of 99 career games, per the Lexington Herald-Leader. Even in West Virginia, he was a 42.4% 3-point shooter last season. Before that, Kriisa had averaged about 4.7 assists per game as a starter in his three years of college hoops before joining Kentucky.

He can make a big difference when he’s on the court and Pope acknowledges it, “It was devastating for him, for sure. Like, devastating. And he loves competing so much. And I don’t think his life quite feels right right now without being able to compete. I mean, his life just doesn’t feel right. And so he’s trying to find a way to lose himself in this team in other ways, and it’s going to be an incredible growing experience for him.”

Nevertheless, the rest of the team is trying to hold the fort as Kriisa recovers and their head coach was especially impressed after Kentucky’s 88-54 victory over Brown.

The Wildcats have found their aggression, believes Mark Pope

It was a dominant victory and the perfect way to end the non-conference part of the season. The Kentucky Wildcats were protecting the ball better than ever, leading to a better offense, and finished the game with just five turnovers. After that rocky beginning, Mark Pope’s team was fired up and the coach noticed on the sidelines.

“They were motivated by aggressiveness,” Pope said afterward. “The first one was Andrew Carr coming up with a huge steal early in the possession, and he’s racing down the floor and advances to Jaxson, and Jaxson was not looking and kind of got held up. But from then on, the guys’ ball protection was elite. Aggression is something fans have wanted more of in this young season.”

Now, the only thing that remains is the return of Kerr Kriisa. Even if the senior is not a starter, his energy definitely adds to the game. Even when not playing and watching from the bench with a cast on his leg, the Estonian talent has found a way to cheer off his team. It only awaits him on the floor now!