Zvonimir Ivisic on the court for pregame warmups. But he’s not ready for season opener.
Kentucky freshman Zvonimir Ivisic emerged from the home tunnel of Rupp Arena about 30 minutes before Monday’s opener to the college basketball season.
Ivisic walked onto the court with his UK teammates, but he did not participate in the penultimate set of warm-ups or the final layup line ahead of the Wildcats’ game against New Mexico State, and he did not appear in the season opener as the NCAA continues to review his eligibility case.
A UK spokesperson told the Herald-Leader on Monday afternoon that all of the team’s players were expected to be on the bench for the game against New Mexico State, though there was no direct comment on Ivisic’s eligibility situation. The NCAA did not respond to the Herald-Leader’s request for a comment on Ivisic’s case Monday.
After the game, John Calipari said that Ivisic had lost 10 pounds following his bout with food poisoning last week. He implied there had been no word from the NCAA on his status and also said that — even if he is ruled eligible this week — he’s not sure if Ivisic would be able to play against Texas A&M-Commerce on Friday night.
“He hasn’t practiced for five, six days,” he said.
Calipari has repeatedly said that he’s confident Ivisic will be ruled eligible. The 7-foot-2 freshman from Croatia previously played for a developmental professional team in Europe, and his amateurism status has been under NCAA review. The wait for a final ruling on his eligibility continues.
The NCAA recently cleared UCLA freshman Aday Mara for competition, and the resolution of that situation has been viewed as a good sign for Ivisic’s case. Mara — a 7-3 center from Spain — followed a similar professional path before committing to the Bruins.
Ivisic committed to Kentucky on Aug. 1 but didn’t arrive in Lexington until Oct. 12 — the day before Big Blue Madness — due to a delay in his university admissions process. He didn’t practice with the team for the first time until Oct. 18, and — though Calipari announced at Madness that Ivisic would make his on-court debut at the Blue-White Game on Oct. 21 — Ivisic did not participate in the scrimmage.
Calipari said after the Blue-White Game that Kentucky’s newest recruit was not yet physically ready to play, and the UK coach said a few days later that he had put Ivisic back into “ramp up” mode in an effort to bolster his conditioning before returning to full practice.
While Ivisic would have been eligible to play in the Blue-White Game, he was not eligible to play during Kentucky’s two exhibition games against outside competition, a point that Calipari was unclear on last month. The confusion forced the UK athletics department to release a statement clarifying the situation the day before Kentucky’s exhibition opener against Georgetown College.
“(Ivisic) cannot compete against outside competition, including exhibition games, until he is approved by the NCAA,” the statement said. “There was miscommunication in this regard and, as we always do, we plan to adhere to NCAA rules. Until he is fully cleared, Zvonimir will be withheld from games against outside competition.”
Calipari said before UK’s exhibition finale against Kentucky State last week that Ivisic would participate in the team’s pregame layup line for the first time — he would have been eligible to do so — but the freshman was not at Rupp Arena for the game. Calipari said later that night that Ivisic had a case of food poisoning.
“He practiced with us yesterday, he had a great shootaround today,” Calipari said Thursday night. “This kid’s got like buzzard’s luck — he got food poisoning. I said, ‘Where is he?’ They said he got sick, and the doctor told him to go back to the lodge.”
Ivisic is one of three 7-footers on the Kentucky roster this season, joining Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso, who have both been sidelined for months with foot injuries. Calipari said after Monday’s game that Bradshaw was still a week or two from being able to practice with the team. He added that Onyenso is two weeks behind him in his recovery.
Over the summer, Ivisic averaged 11.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game for Croatia in the FIBA U20 European Championship tournament. The 20-year-old is viewed as a high-upside player who’s capable of extending the court — with shooting range that stretches beyond the 3-point line — and an ability to protect the rim defensively.
ESPN ranks Ivisic as the No. 69 overall prospect for the 2024 NBA draft, though Calipari has stressed in recent weeks that he projects as merely a piece to UK’s roster puzzle for this season, tempering talk that the freshman big man could emerge as an instant college star.
“If you think he’s ready to walk in, dominate a game, you’re not thinking right,” Calipari said at SEC media day last month. “He’s not.”
This story was originally published November 6, 2023 at 7:52 PM.
