Mark Pope provides Kerr Kriisa injury update after surviving Colgate
12/12/2024 11:03 AM
The Kentucky basketball team hosted Colgate on Wednesday night and it was expected to be an easy win for the Wildcats. When Kentucky got out to a 17-0 lead in front of their home crowd, it really looked like it was going to be an easy win. However, Colgate fought back and made it close, but the Wildcats survived and earned a 78-67 win. After the game, Wildcats head coach Mark Pope provided an update on Kerr Kriisa who recently had surgery on his foot that he injured against Gonzaga.
Kerr Kriisa went down with an injury against Gonzaga and it did require surgery. He will have to miss significant time because of it, but when he talked to Mark Pope, he just wanted to make it known that he loves this Kentucky basketball team.
“Mark Pope says Kerr Kriisa FaceTimed him as he woke up from his ankle surgery and was ‘high as a kite’ telling him how much he loved Pope and the team,” Matt Jones said in a post.
Mark Pope credits his teams after two gutsy wins
The Kentucky basketball team needed to comeback in this one as they actually trailed to Colgate in the second half. They also trailed big over the weekend against Gonzaga before winning that game. Mark Pope loves the way that his team responds to adversity.
“We have great guys, man,” Pope said after the game on SportsCenter. “We have a ton of leadership on this team, and this was clearly not our best night, and a lot of credit Colgate, you know, they’ve had some misfortune, but they’re a championship team. They’ve won a ton and and those guys have a lot of pride and played well, but our guys are great at responding. They’re just great at responding. It’s the best part of our team, and so I’m really proud of them.”
A big reason why Pope thinks his team is able to pull through in the difficult moments is their togetherness.
“We talk about this all the time, the beautiful thing about basketball is it is a team sport, and it it’s always going to test the connective tissue of your team and and our guys have worked really hard, they’ve been really intentional about trying to stay together,” Pope said. “That doesn’t guarantee wins, it doesn’t guarantee success, but it gives you the best chance to stay alive when things aren’t working right. And you kind of keep fresh heart and an open mind on every possession and kind of taking frustration and spit it out and our guys are pretty good at that.”
At the end of the day, Pope and his Wildcats know how important Kentucky basketball is to a lot of people.
“It is incredibly important that we continue to make all the players and coaches who worked miracles here over the decades, make those guys proud,” Pope added. “We get to enjoy this because of what they did. This was built by them… it's our turn to carry this torch.”
Mark Pope has Kentucky sitting at 9-1 after the win against Colgate. The Wildcats are ranked #5 in the country, and Pope is looking good so far in year one. The Wildcats will be back in action on Saturday at home against rival Louisville.
The post Mark Pope provides Kerr Kriisa injury update after surviving Colgate appeared first on ClutchPoints.
