Arizona set to welcome freshman guard Kerr Kriisa to the floor this week

Arizona has not been at full strength since the start of the season, so when shooting guard Jemarl Baker Jr. went down with a wrist injury last month it put the Wildcats in an even more difficult spot.

Point guard James Akinjo has continued to play heavy minutes while UA's other guards have had to step up to replace what the team lost when Baker suffered his injury.

Though the Wildcats have been stretched thin in recent games there is some help on the way as freshman guard Kerr Kriisa is set to make his college debut this week when the Wildcats hit the road to face the Mountain schools.

Originally, Kriisa was supposed to play his first game with the Wildcats on Saturday against Colorado, but head coach Sean Miller recently confirmed that instead the freshman's debut would come a game earlier than expected Thursday against Utah.

The UA freshman should help give Akinjo a bigger opportunity to rest late in the season, and he could also make up for the outside shooting the team lost when Baker went down.

While the Wildcats are certainly happy to add Kriisa into the mix over the final month of the season, Miller is remaining cautious when it comes to what the freshman will look like making his debut months after the rest of the players first took the floor.

"It'll be really, really big to have Kerr back," Miller said after his team's win over Cal on Saturday. "I'll caution everybody. It's really a very difficult situation for Kerr to play his first college game ever when everybody that he's playing with and against are on game 15, game 16. Especially in the middle of the season. We're gonna be in February, we're on an away court. So, I think first things first, him being able to settle into a role where he could come in the game and sub out James, sub out Terrell (Brown Jr.) and kind of get the good feel about being out there.

"I'm sure he's incredibly nervous. ... We are gonna welcome him to our team simply because we're starving for a perimeter player, and he's that. He can play both the one and the two. He's an excellent shooter. He's a very, very good player, but I think it will take him some time to get comfortable."

Kriisa briefly left the team to take part in an event with the Estonian National Team back in Europe, but he ultimately returned and joined his teammates once again early in the season. However, if sitting out wasn't challenging enough he also suffered a broken nose and concussion during practice that resulted in him missing some time.

At this point his issues appear to be in the rearview mirror and Miller is glad to be adding Kriisa into the mix at full strength.

"The good thing for Kerr is he's healthy," the UA head coach said. "He's been able to practice with us, really, the entire semester and then over the holidays other than when he went home with his national team and when he suffered a concussion. Other than those two periods of time he practices with us, he goes through shootaround, he knows our plays, he knows our system so he's not starting from scratch there."

Even as he gets adjusted Kriisa should help solve a couple of UA's biggest concerns at this point in the season. His ability to handle the ball gives the Wildcats some more relief for its guards who have been on the floor a ton this season plus he can help provide some outside shooting as well.

Kriisa's teammates have been able to see first hand what he can do on the floor during practice, and there is certainly a confidence the freshman guard's teammates have in him heading into his debut.

"I think he really does a great job of getting everybody involved," UA big man Jordan Brown said over the weekend. "It's another guy who plays hard, brings energy to the team and he moves the ball really well. So, he gets everybody engaged."

For Akinjo, the debut of Kriisa means an opportunity to strengthen the depth for the Wildcats. There have been moments when Arizona has seen a drop off in production when it turns to its bench, and the UA starting point guard believes Kriisa can be part of the solution to avoiding that.

"Most of the time when teams sub up they lose things at the point guard position," Akinjo said. "I think he's a guy that he can keep things going. If we got a lead he can keep the lead if not further it, and if we're down he can maybe give us a spark with his ability to get everybody involved."

The freshman's debut will come Thursday evening at 5 p.m. when the Wildcats visit the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City to face Utah.

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