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“Kerr’s a good player,â€� UA coach Tommy Lloyd said after ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s 97-77 win over Utah on Thursday. “I don’t know why I would be anything but consistent."

So guess what happens when Kriisa’s shot ¾±²õ²Ô’t off?

The Estonian sophomore posts UA’s first triple-double since 2004 and caps his career-high seven 3-pointers with a near-halfcourt buzzer beater before halftime.

“It’s fun,� Kriisa said. “I just got my rhythm going and it’s pretty hard to describe the feeling. But when the shot goes in, you usually feel good. I feel like I really needed it for my confidence, too. It was really good confidence boost for upcoming games.�

While dealing with a thumb injury that still warrants a bandage in games, Kriisa had shot just 7 for 21 (33.3%) from 3-point range over his previous three games, while he earlier was a combined 3 for 19 from 3 in two games against UCLA.

But on Thursday, things changed, and it wasn’t just that Kriisa felt good.

His teammates felt good about him, too.

“We saw that it’s basically his game,� forward Azuolas Tubelis said.

All that meant there maybe wasn't a choice about who should take the final shot with UA having just five seconds left in the half after Utah's Gabe Madsen had just hit a 3 to cut the Wildcats' lead to 17.

After taking the ensuing inbounds pass, Kriise took a quick look at Tubelis as he raced upcourt, then decided to fire off a shot just as he stepped over the midcourt line.

“I saw Zu was open and I was looking at Zu, but he didn’t even want the ball,� Kriisa said. “He just showed with the little hand, like `shoot it.’ “

Tubelis said he wanted the ball at first but realized only four seconds were left and quickly changed his mind.

“Kerr looked at me in the eye and then he looked at the shot clock, and he decided to shoot,� Tubelis said, chuckling at the memory. “I’m happy he decided to shoot it.�

Kriisa’s midcourt bomb as time expired in the first half gave UA a 53-33 halftime lead, and gave him 21 points already to tie a career high he set against Washington at McKale Center on Jan. 3. He was 7 for 8 from 3-point range in the first half, and missed the only two 3s he tried in the second.

But Kriisa’s shooting in the first half made the second half almost moot anyway. The big story there was that Tubelis had 15 points on 4-for-5 field goal shooting while hitting all seven free throws he attempted. That effort followed a first half in which the Wildcats shot exactly zero free throws.

“Coach mentioned that we need to be more aggressive inside,� Tubelis said.

The Wildcats (25-2 overall and 15-1 in the Pac-12) shot a combined 53.6% in the second half to finish with a 52.1% mark for the game. They held Utah (11-17, 4-14) to 40.3% shooting on the other end, while scoring 15 points off 15 Utah turnovers.

While Kriisa missed those only two shots he took in the second half, he instead went to work on recording UA’s first triple-double since Andre Iguodala did it three times as a sophomore in 2003-04.

That’s where his teammates – and a generous substitution by Lloyd -- played a role again. Kriisa had seven rebounds and eight assists after halftime capture the triple-double, doing so for a few different reasons.

For one thing, Kriisa said that all his first-half shooting made Utah focus a little bit less on everyone else.

“Coming out (after halftime) I knew right away I was going to play for my teammates,� Kriisa said. “I had my 21 – I don’t even need 21 but I had it – but I was thinking about my teammates and that (Utah) was gonna be more on me. I had open looks (to pass to) Zu, C-Lo (Christian Koloko), Justin (Kier) for 3, so that really helped me out.�

Kier’s 3 gave Kriisa his 10th assist, and the Wildcats a 93-65 lead with 4:13 left.

Then it was Lloyd’s turn to help out a bit.

Lloyd had taken Kriisa out with 3:02 left and the game effectively over, leaving Kriisa with 21 points, 10 assists … and nine rebounds.

After some thought – and a little lobbying from Kriisa – Lloyd put the guard back in the game with 1:57, subbing him in for center Oumar Ballo, of all people.

Just 56 seconds later, UA guard Adama Bal blocked a layup attempt from Utah’s Jaxon Brenchley, and Kriisa picked up the defensive rebound.

Done, 21-10-10.

It will go down in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s record books as the school’s 10th triple-double, along with Iguodala’s trio in 2003-04, the triple-doubles that Loren Woods reached via points, rebounds and blocks both in 1999-2000 and in 2000-01, and the single triple-doubles that Luke Walton (2001-02), Damon Stoudamire (1994-95), Chris Mills (1991-92) and Matt Muehlebach (1989-90) collected.

“I want to say right now: I never play for stats,� Kriisa said. “When I saw on the board that I was really close, I think that was the first time that I said `I’ve got to go for it.’

“But again I’ve got to give a lot of credit to my teammates. Pelle (Larsson) left me one ball (to rebound) but they didn’t count it so I asked coach Lloyd to put me back in and thankfully he did.�

He did, but only after some careful thought.

“Totally not my style,� Lloyd said. “That’s totally not my style. But I thought `OK. Kerr Kriisa is probably never gonna be in this position again in his career to have nine rebounds' and he just needed one rebound for a triple-double.

“So I was like, `I’ll give him a shot.’ He gave me a look with those puppy dog eyes. Now I did him a big solid. He did us a big solid. But by giving him that final solid, now I think I’ve got a little leverage on him going forward.�