UA signee Kriisa shows off shooting skills as Estonia wins title

While leading Estonia’s national team to a historic championship in the Baltic Way Cup over the weekend, Arizona signee Kerr Kriisa shot the ball a lot like his record-breaking namesake once did for the Wildcats.

At the same time, Kriisa showed the sort of passion that could make him a fan favorite at McKale Center next season.

Named after Steve Kerr, who set a still-standing NCAA-record 57.3% of his 3s for Arizona in 1987-88, Kriisa hit 8 of 12 3s while scoring 26 points in Estonia’s 92-85 overtime win over Lithuania on Friday.

Then, on Sunday, Kriisa added another eight points while hitting 2 of 9 3-pointers, along with four rebounds, four assists and one turnover in Estonia’s 84-67 win over Latvia.

While the tournament was technically an exhibition, named after the 1989 Baltic Way protest of Soviet rule when roughly two million people formed a human chain through the Baltic states, Kriisa snapped at a Lithuanian reporter who mentioned in English that the match was a “friendly game.”

According to Tallinn’s Postimees, Lithuanian agent Marius Rutkauskas posted to Instagram video of the interview, in which Kriisa shook his head vigorously at the Lithuanian reporter.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s friendly match,” Kriisa said in the video. “It doesn’t matter at all. They came with EuroLeague players. They came with EuroCup players. Don’t take it away from us. Stop talking. I’m just saying we played our heart out. And don’t even start that.”

Then, asked about the win, Kriisa smiled.

“It feels very good,” he said. “Trust me.”

Estonia’s win over Lithuania was its first since Estonia declared independence in 1991 and, after the tournament ended Sunday, a column in the Posttimees was entitled “Yes, Estonia is (again) a basketball country!”

Kriisa also had a personal motivation in Friday’s game, having spent the last two seasons playing for the well-regarded Zalgiris club in Kaunas, Lithuania. Kriisa played mostly for Zalgiris’ junior team and, while discussing his decision to play for Arizona, told the Postimees he realized he wouldn’t get much playing time for its senior club over the next few seasons.

Lithuanian coach Darius Maskoliunas referred to Kriisa’s decision after Friday’s game.

“Kriisa was outstanding,” Maskoliunas told the Postimees. “Maybe he wanted to prove that he deserved a place in Zalgiris. In any case, it came out well for him. … We know he is a very emotional leader. Even when Kerr came to the main team, he never lost his head.

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“He is already a full-fledged leader on the team. He hit us and kept his emotion high. We could not stop Kerr individually or as a team. “

Kriisa told the Postimees he explained his decision to leave Zalgiris with club president Paulius Motiejunas and sports director Robertas Javtokas, who played briefly for Arizona in 1999-2000.

“I am grateful to them that they understood my wish and decision to go to the NCAA,” Kriisa said.

At Arizona, Kriisa will find another Lithuanian tie: He will be teammates with Lithuanian twins Azuolas and Tautvilas Tubelis, who also signed with UA in the spring. Kriisa played with Zalgiris against the twins, when they were with the Vilnius Rytas club and in Euroleague youth tournaments.

“I know them well, I consider them friends,” Kriisa said of the Tubelis brothers to Postimees. “I look forward to playing with them.”

Kriisa is also expected to play for Estonia in games against Finland on Thursday and Friday. It remains unknown when he might be able to leave for Arizona, but the Wildcats are hoping to at least have all their players reporting by the start of the fall semester.

Decision day

Two Arizona recruiting targets are scheduled to announce their college choices on Monday, but the Wildcats are not expected to land either one.

Peyton Watson, a five-star wing forward in the class of 2021 from Long Beach, California, said he will announce his college choice at 6 p.m. while three-star guard Angelo Brizzi of Virginia is expected to announce at 4 p.m.

According to 247’s Crystal Ball, Watson is a unanimous choice to pick UCLA while Brizzi is a unanimous choice for Villanova. In both cases, seven analysts posting to the Crystal Ball all made the same picks.

UA pushes back mobile tickets

Because its primary way to ticket will now be through mobile devices, Arizona is also promoting its ticket transfer service. Season ticket holders can now transfer tickets to anyone via their online accounts.