The Kentucky Wildcats have a lot to be thankful for on their first Thanksgiving together in Lexington. For Otega Oweh, it’s simply the opportunity to play basketball at a high level night in and night out. Andrew Carr? He’s grateful to spend time with his long-distance girlfriend around the holidays soon. Then you get Kerr Kriisa, who was just happy to get his first free throws of the season against WKU — plus his family and the new relationships he’s built here, obviously.

Oh, and this team is pretty darn good, too. That’s something the players, coaches and Big Blue Nation can all agree we’re thankful for — the Cats are one of eight undefeated teams remaining in the KenPom top 25 and one of four left in the AP top 10.

Another? Food. It’s the ultimate staple of Thanksgiving, what brings family, friends and loved ones around the table on the fourth Thursday of November each year. You’re not human if you don’t love food. Fortunately for us, this team’s got nothing but humans.

“A lot of food, for sure,” Oweh said of his excitement for Thanksgiving. “I feel like that’s a day where you really just go crazy and eat. I love food, so that’s what I’m most looking forward to.”

The type of food varies, though. For some, the traditional route is best.

“My ideal Thanksgiving plate has lot of Turkey with the cranberry sauce — gotta have some cranberry sauce,” Carr told KSR. “Then mashed potatoes, stuffing. That’s my favorite Thanksgiving food, stuffing. Then some corn, maybe a little bit of casserole, then probably like three or four things of bread. I love the bread.

“I’m not a big fan of sweet potatoes. That’s probably one of my things that I don’t go for — kind of hot take, but I don’t really like sweet potatoes. We can still do some pie. I’m pretty classic, I like apple pie. Apple pie is really great.”

“I’m a big candied yams fan. Anything I eat is going to have candied yams with it, for sure,” Oweh added. “Then obviously the natural dish — turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, then candied yams.”

Koby Brea grew up in Washington Heights, NY, but both of his parents are from the Dominican Republic. That leads to some food crossovers around the holidays with some Thanksgiving classics, but also native Dominican dishes.

He’s good with both.

“On a Dominican Thanksgiving, you’re not seeing any turkey. That’s probably something that you don’t see much of, we don’t really do too much Turkey,” Brea said. “We do something called pernil, which is — I love it, it’s amazing. You don’t really see too much mac and cheese or collard greens, the regular American traditional way.

“You’re just gonna see a whole lot of rice, beans, chicken, different meats, plantains, stuff like that. But I love both, I like a pretty diverse amount of food. I like trying new things, so I’m excited to see what’s gonna be at Coach Pope’s House.”

Will he bring any of his secret family recipes to the potluck at Mark Pope‘s house Thursday evening?

“I don’t know if I could do that,” he joked. “If my family was around, I’d have them do something, but personally I don’t think I can put it down like that. I can cook a little bit, but not like that.”

Then we have Kerr Kriisa, who — well, let’s just say he’s not as flexible as Brea. The fifth-year senior loves food, certainly, but Thanksgiving food? That’s a no-go for the guard from Estonia.

“I’m European,” he said. “… I absolutely — no. Thanksgiving food is not what I eat. I absolutely hate it, absolutely hate it. Ham and green beans? That’s not my food. … I absolutely hate the food. I’m not very big on it. I like the idea of Thanksgiving, but the food is not it. The ham, it’s just funny for me how you all eat like a big ass ham. It’s ham and like beans. I don’t know, I’m not a big fan of it.”

What is his food?

“Not that. Just not that. I’m not a fan,” Kriisa continued. “Usually I’ll be hitting like Cane’s or something that night. It’s just another day.”

How about some dessert? Can we at least convince him to try a traditional post-meal course?

“Pumpkin pie, I guess. Is that what it is?” he said. “Something with apple? Apple pie? Apple pie is solid. In Italy they say if you eat apple pie, you’re old and your teeth are about to fall out. Just a fun fact.”

The more you know. Anyway, he’ll just appreciate the time spent with his coaches and teammates before finding some food for himself once the holiday wraps up.

“Thanksgiving is — I’m just looking forward to going over to Coach’s house,” Kriisa said. “That’s usually the theme and the team is there, being thankful. Probably just being with teammates at Pope’s house. We’ll have a good time.”

No matter the kind of food they like or what they will or won’t be throwing down on Thanksgiving, the Wildcats just appreciate the fact the Popes have opened their doors to host what the head coach describes as a “festival rarely seen before” including the entire team, staff and their families — whoever is in town.

“I would invite (fans) over, but we just can’t fit any more people,” Pope joked.

“He’s a great human being, the fact that he understands we’re all in a new place and he’s able to open his arms and doors to his house for us to all come,” Brea said of his head coach. “A lot of us don’t have family here, so he’s able to just provide some food for us so we can bond together. It should be special.”

Who knows, maybe the holiday spirit will get Kriisa to fall in love with turkey on Thursday?