Andrew Carr organized a surprise party for Kerr Kriisa's birthday: 'Those moments just bring us together.'

Fifth-year guard Kerr Kriisa celebrated his 24th birthday earlier this week on Jan. 2, but it’s tough to do any actual celebrating when he’s walking on crutches to support a fracture in his foot. So his teammates brought the party to him.

“All of my guys snuck into Kerr Kriisa’s apartment after celebrating his birthday to go scare him and surprise him,” Kentucky head coach Mark Pope said after the Wildcats beat Florida 106-100 on Saturday. “You know, my guy is struggling right now because he can’t play right now and it’s killing him. They all snuck into his apartment like little kids, to go surprise him.”

And they sure did surprise him, too. Kriisa, who is still not fully healed from his injury, posted a video to his Instagram Story to show the moment his teammates popped out to show him some love. His reaction was priceless (and a little NSFW).

Kerr Kriisa is SHOCKED as his teammates jump out to scare him at his surprise birthday party 💙 pic.twitter.com/nlEg7Pdmk3

— Kentucky Hoops (@kentuckyhoopsig) January 2, 2025

“That’s definitely a special moment, especially for Kerr,” Fifth-year guard Lamont Butler said. “He’s been injured and hasn’t played. So I think we just wanted to show him some love and make his birthday fun. It’s probably not fun having a birthday where you’re not playing, can’t really do much, on crutches. We tried to bring a little positive spirit to him like he does to us every day.”

Andrew Carr, another fifth-year veteran on this Kentucky team, was the one who organized the surprise a couple of days out from Kriisa’s birthday. The team sent Kriisa and a couple of others on a Costco trip, which allowed them time to get into position and surprise him the moment he hobbled through the front door.

“I know what it feels like to be in his shoes, to have to go through an injury is really tough,” Fifth-year guard Koby Brea said. “I know it’s always really hard for him. But to have guys like us that — we’re his brothers.

“At the end of the day, we just want to show up for him and show him that. He was really emotional about it because there’s not a lot of places you can go to and get that kind of love. It was a great moment for us to be there for him and spend a lot of time with him on his birthday and just make that day special for him.”

After nearly making Kriisa pee his pants out of shock, Butler says the team spent the rest of the night hanging out together. They watched the Georgia-Notre Dame game in the College Football Playoff and finished the night by diving into each other’s high school film. Butler claims that the three freshmen — Collin Chandler, Travis Perry, and Trent Noah — all have the best highlight packages.

“Those moments just bring us together,” Brea added.

Pope believes those off-court moments truly translate to on the court. It’s hard to argue against that after Kentucky just put together an elite offensive performance against Florida. The ‘Cats shot 58 percent from the field, 14-29 from deep, and dished out 25 assists to just six turnovers. UK put together three separate 10-0 runs against the Gators.

“I actually think those runs come from a group like that. I really do,” Pope said. “I think it comes from being together and these guys are working so hard to be together as much as they can. I think that’s probably the most important ingredient.”

So far, the off-court results have spit out a recipe for on-court success.