'It's going to take some time' to see Kerr Kriisa -- celebrating his 24th birthday today -- back in a Kentucky uniform

Happy Birthday, Kerr Kriisa! Will the fifth-year senior celebrating his 24th birthday on Thursday receive the gift of availability to open SEC play vs. Florida this weekend? Mark Pope certainly hopes so, joking that Kriisa will be a game-time decision when the Cats take on the Gators in the battle of top-10 foes on Saturday.

In all seriousness, though, the 6-3 guard is expected to remain out, just as he’s been since breaking his foot in Kentucky‘s overtime win over Gonzaga in Seattle back on Dec. 7.

“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,” Pope said Thursday. “We’ll see how that goes, but he’s still got — I mean, this is a major deal. It’s going to take some time.”

It’s the second update on Kriisa’s status this week, Pope providing the first during his call-in radio show on Monday. When asked then, the Kentucky head coach said he begged strength and conditioning coach Brandon Wells to clear the West Virginia transfer ahead of the start of SEC play with Florida coming to town, but was unfortunately given a firm no.

That included some cryptic verbiage indicating his long-term status remains up in the air in Lexington. The school announced Kriisa’s injury was not expected to be season-ending at the time of his surgery with Pope putting a loose six-week timetable on his return following Kentucky’s win over Colgate on Dec. 11. That would put him at the midway point now with a potential comeback the week of January 19-25, assuming there are no setbacks.

The Wildcats’ lone matchup that week is at Vanderbilt on the 25th.

“Kerr is doing great. He was in rehab (Monday) — I actually walked in after practice, he was working hard in rehab, so I hit Brandon Wells pretty hard about this Saturday, just seeing if I could get him to (play). That was a hard no,” Pope said. “So, I don’t know when or if he’s coming back, but apparently he’s definitely not coming back by Saturday [laughs].”

How is the 24-year-old with 93 career starts in 99 games leading up to his time in Lexington handling the time off? It’s been an adjustment, to put it lightly. He’s done nothing but compete on the floor at the collegiate level, and before that, overseas. Forced to stay off of it has been ‘devastating.’

Left with no choice, though, he’s making the most of his time and trying to make an impact in other ways.

“He’s been great. I mean, it was devastating for him, for sure. Like, devastating. He loves competing so much,” Pope said. “I don’t think his life feels quite right not being able to compete, his life doesn’t feel right. He’s trying to lose himself in this team in other ways and that’s going to be an incredible growing experience for him.

“That’s what we have to make it, an opportunity to really grow and learn new ways to do things. He’s around good people and he’ll do it.”

Hopefully the old man on the team can make the most of his 24th birthday in the meantime.

Happy Birthday, @KerrKriisa 🎉 pic.twitter.com/Ad5v7IESsd

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) January 2, 2025