The very confident Kerr Kriisa went at Luka Doncic
Aug 26, 2022, 8:41 AM
You can argue about how good Arizona Wildcats point guard Kerr Kriisa is at basketball.
You cannot deny, however, that he’s never lacked confidence.
In case you weren’t sold on that 0-for-12 shooting performance last season against UCLA or his 2-for-17 NCAA Tournament shooting performance over two games while on a bum ankle, maybe Thursday’s happenings might convince you about Kriisa’s never-ceasing confidence.
With his Estonian national team competing well early on in a FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifier against powerhouse Slovenia, Kriisa got into the face of Luka Doncic. Yes, the guy who is a top-five basketball player in the world.
There were some tensions at the beginning of the game between 🇪🇪 Kerr Kriisa and 🇸🇮 Luka Doncic 👊#FIBAWC #WinForAll
🎥 @fiba pic.twitter.com/eoqQWa08Wj
— BasketNews (@BasketNews_com) August 26, 2022
If you think that was a bad idea, well, it probably was.
Slovenia quickly pulled away to take the game out of reach by halftime with a 17-0 run. Doncic had 25 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists by the end of a 104-83 victory for his squad.
To be fair, Doncic probably would have posted that stat line and Slovenia probably would have gone on that type of backbreaking run if Kriisa had stayed silent.
And Kriisa, who will enter his third season with Arizona, didn’t have the worst game himself. He scored 14 to go with five assists and four turnovers. All 11 of his field goal attempts were from three-point range.
But get this: Kriisa was not deterred by the loss or Doncic’s dominance afterward. In his postgame press conference, he even threw a bit of shade at Doncic for reacting to his trash talk.
Kriisa also said: "Luka is Luka" and "He's a great player and he played great today."
— David Hein (@heinnews) August 25, 2022
Arizona fans love him. Opponents and their fans probably do not.
But nobody needs to bother telling Kriisa to never change, because he probably will not.
