Mark Pope says Kerr Kriisa called him while 'high as a kite' after foot surgery

It’s likely going to be a few more weeks at minimum before Kerr Kriisa returns to the floor for Kentucky, but we at least know his recent surgery was a success.

“Kerr has already had the surgery,” Head coach Mark Pope said after the Wildcats’ 78-67 win over Colgate on Wednesday night. “(Las) Vegas would say somewhere around this six-week period (for a return), I’m saying, like 10 days, we’ll see how it goes.”

Pope was joking about the 10 days part, smiling as he said it to the media. The reality is that Kriisa will miss longer than just 10 days due to the foot injury he suffered against Gonzaga, which reports have labeled as a Jones fracture that will require as much as six weeks to fully recover from. Kentucky, which is also without starting point guard Lamont Butler, certainly missed having their backup floor general in a closer-than-expected win over Colgate.

I appreciate everyone, who has reached out and sent positive messages that help me with healing!! Go Cats! BBN!

— Kerr (@KerrKriisa) December 10, 2024

But Kriisa at least brings as much energy off the floor as he does on it. In that way, he’ll be able to help his teammates while he continues to rehab. His pep talks won’t end because he can’t play. If anything, they’ll become more intense.

“He might bring more energy to the team on the bench actually,” Pope added.

And apparently, Kriisa also brings the energy even when he’s knocked up on post-surgery pain medicine.

“In true Kerr fashion — I probably shouldn’t say this — so in true Kerr fashion he FaceTimed me the second he woke up and he fully acknowledged that he was high as a kite,” Pope said on postgame radio with Tom Leach. “He was going down a laundry list of all the people that he loved so much. And my instinct was I gotta find a way to take this to Instagram Live so we can all enjoy this moment. I’m just not technologically savvy enough to do it so I apologize for that. I’ll work on that in the future.”

In the long term, Kentucky is going to need a healthy Kriisa. He was effective against Gonzaga as the fill-in starter for Butler before going down midway through the second half. Not only is he an excellent playmaker, but he’s also a big piece to Kentucky’s three-point shooting efforts.

Luckily, the road to recovery is underway for the Estonian.