Kerr Kriisa talked about his decision to play for Mark Pope

It was a no brainer for Kerr Kriisa to play for Mark Pope at Kentucky.
Feb 24, 2024; Ames, Iowa, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Kerr Kriisa (3) celebrates after a basket against the Iowa State Cyclones during the second half at James H. Hilton Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 24, 2024; Ames, Iowa, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Kerr Kriisa (3) celebrates after a basket against the Iowa State Cyclones during the second half at James H. Hilton Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports / Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports
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Kentucky's new head basketball coach, Mark Pope, has been recruiting Kerr Kriisa for a while now, but he was finally able to get the talented guard to join him at Kentucky.

Kriisa played three years at Arizona before playing at West Virginia last season. Now, he will finish his college basketball career playing for the Kentucky Wildcats.

He has that mentality that Coach Pope loves where he won't back down from anybody, and he proved that when trash-talking NBA superstar Luka Doncic.

The last season for WVU, Kriisa averaged a career-high 11 points per game to go with 2.5 rebounds and 4.7 assists. He shot 42.4% from three, which was also a career-high.

Kriisa had this to say about his decision to play for Coach Pope at Kentucky on BBN Tonight, "I have a little bit of history with Pope already. He's been recruiting me since he still had hair. It's been a minute. But honestly, this time, when he called, our call was maybe two and a half minutes. If you would ask him, he would probably say the same. We never asked about my role, never asked about my minutes. He was like you know me, I know you, and let's get it done. Two and a half minutes, that's all it took."

Coach Pope seems to be close with Kriisa and is building a great culture within the Kentucky basketball program. Kriisa will likely be the first guard off the bench for this team, and he will provide a ton of scoring and facilitation while the starters are on the bench.


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Andrew Stefaniak

ANDREW STEFANIAK