It was a day of celebration in Rupp Arena. And a new Kentucky basketball star arrived.
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Game day: No. 8 Kentucky 105, Georgia 96
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Georgia in Rupp Arena.
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Appreciation of the past, excitement in the present and anticipation for the future.
It was all there in Rupp Arena on Saturday.
On a night when Kentucky’s 1984 Final Four team was honored — the 40th anniversary of that achievement — the current edition of the Wildcats defeated Georgia 105-96, a final tally on the scoreboard that didn’t come close to telling the story of the game itself.
At halftime, with many of the surviving members from that magical ’84 squad together again on the Rupp Arena court, UK great Sam Bowie held the microphone and mentioned John Calipari, a Hall of Fame coach who likes to say he’s been hit with so much criticism over the years that any current complaints go through the “bazooka holes” left by his past critics.
“I don’t know if he’s ever been blamed for anything,” Bowie said, pausing long enough to let the crowd laugh along with him. “But if we don’t win a championship this year, it’s his fault.”
Rupp Arena erupted in laughter.
Bowie’s comment was relayed to Calipari after the game.
“He told me he was going to say it,” the coach replied with a smile. “I said, ‘Go ahead. Everybody else is throwing darts. You might as well be in there, too.’ If he watched the second half, I don’t think he’d be saying that.”
On Saturday, nobody cared about the second half. This was a night of celebration in Rupp Arena.
At 1:28 p.m. — about four and a half hours before tipoff — Zvonimir Ivisic announced to the basketball world that he had been cleared to play for the Wildcats. The 7-foot-2 freshman from Croatia was finally free of the NCAA’s eligibility process. “Big Z” — as he was known to Kentucky fans even before arriving in the United States on Oct. 12 — was ready to make his college basketball debut.
Following those months of buildup, the intrigue over his versatile game — a 7-footer fluent in 3-point shooting and rim-protection — and the uncertainty over whether he’d ever make it onto the court, surely there was nothing he could do to live up to the hype.
He surpassed it almost as soon as he stepped onto the court.
Ivisic checked into the game for the first time with 16:00 left in the first half and Kentucky trailing the Bulldogs 10-8. As soon as he started walking toward the scorer’s table, the crowd went wild.
On Ivisic’s first defensive possession, Georgia’s leading scorer, Jabri Abdur-Rahim, went right at him at the rim. Ivisic swatted his shot.
A couple minutes later, Reed Sheppard hit Ivisic with a pass in the middle of the lane, and — if you blinked, you missed it — the 7-2 freshman whipped the ball behind his back to a wide-open Antonio Reeves, who nailed a 3-pointer to put the Cats up 19-10. In less than three minutes with Ivisic on the floor, Kentucky outscored the Bulldogs 11-0.
The Rupp Arena crowd roared its approval. Georgia coach Mike White called a timeout. Ivisic started to head back to the UK sideline. It took him a while to get there.
His teammates on the floor and the Kentucky players on the bench converged as one on the European rookie, a wave of Wildcats driving Ivisic into the opposite corner of the court as the crowd noise intensified.
“It was amazing,” Ivisic said afterward. “I didn’t know how to react at the time. Everybody just jumping on me, hitting me, screaming, laughing. … It was a great moment.”
It was just the beginning.
When Calipari put Ivisic back in the game a few minutes later — the Wildcats leading 28-22 — he was on the court for all of nine seconds before he got his first look at the basket. Ivisic jumped into the air for an open 3-pointer. It went in, and the crowd popped again.
“Three for Z!” Rupp PA announcer Patrick Whitmer declared with glee.
On Georgia’s next possession, Ivisic blocked another shot. He then tipped a defensive rebound to himself and got the ball to D.J. Wagner, who started the fast break and — with Ivisic running along with him — found his 7-2 teammate for another long-range shot. It went in. This one counted for just two points — Ivisic’s foot was on the line — and the big man looked toward the Kentucky bench and shrugged, reminiscent of the one Michael Jordan flashed in the 1992 NBA Finals.
On UK’s next possession, Ivisic hit another 3-pointer. And on the possession after that, he did the same. That made the score: Kentucky 41, Georgia 24.
During a timeout a few seconds later, Rupp was rocking once again. The crowd started chanting: “Z! Z! Z!” In 5 minutes and 28 seconds with their newest weapon on the court, the Wildcats had outscored Georgia 24-2.
“It felt amazing,” Ivisic said. “I was enjoying the moment, enjoying the crowd. I don’t know. The crowd just kept me going.”
When he woke up Saturday morning, his college basketball future was still uncertain. Ivisic said after the game that he relied heavily on support from his teammates, his coaches, and Kentucky fans throughout the process. His fellow Wildcats said that he stayed positive during the ordeal, but he acknowledged that it was difficult. The hardest times, he said, were late at night when he was in his room, all alone.
Ivisic and Calipari were together Saturday when they received the news that he was good to go.
“We were in shock at first. And then the tears came,” Ivisic said, pointing to one eye. “And I just started jumping in his office.”
Did Calipari shed a tear, too?
“Yeah, a little bit,” he said with a big laugh. “Maybe.”
Calipari remained patient, publicly, at least, for most of this process, consistently saying he expected Ivisic, who played for a professional development team in Europe, to ultimately be ruled eligible. But that patience started to wear off in recent weeks. It turned to relief Saturday.
“It was a good start for him,” he said. “It took a long, long time. But I appreciate the work everybody did to make it happen.”
Ivisic finished with 13 points, five rebounds, two assists, three blocks and two steals. He scored those first 11 points in a span of two minutes and 24 seconds. His only bucket of the second half was a ferocious two-handed dunk, the visual made even more striking when Ivisic performed a full chin-up on the rim. He was immediately hit with a technical foul, an easy call for the officials.
“Ah, I don’t know,” the newbie to American basketball said of the play after the game, letting out another big laugh. “I forgot about it. I’m still kind of knowing the rules. I don’t know every rule here. So, my bad, Coach Cal. My bad. I’m sorry.”
Ivisic explained that such theatrics were allowed back home.
That dunk put Kentucky ahead 100-81 with 4:48 left. The Cats had led by as many as 28 points just a few minutes earlier, the huge advantage squandered away to a single-digit victory in garbage time.
Up until Georgia’s late flurry, this UK team looked like one capable of going a long way in March. Perhaps further than any of Calipari’s squads in recent seasons. The Cats haven’t been to the Final Four in nine years. They haven’t won a title since 2012. A roster that already appeared to be worthy of such a run now has one more intriguing piece to work with.
Before these Cats took the court Saturday, three key figures from that 1984 team — Bowie, Jim Master and Kenny Walker — spoke to reporters about that squad and this one. Master marveled at their depth. Bowie spoke highly of their frontcourt. All three were eager to see Big Z’s debut.
Walker said he was honored that the 1984 team was invited back, adding that it’s usually only national champions that receive such treatment.
“But we won the hearts of the people of the state of Kentucky, and we’ll be forever grateful for that,” he said.
A couple hours later, his college basketball debut behind him, Ivisic spoke with reverence and appreciation of those same fans. He said he saw the positive messages over the past few months. He was glad to finally get on the court.
He was even happier it happened at home.
“I would rather play here for my first game than an away game. Because everyone is here who supported me. I just wanted to go through this moment with everybody else. Here.”
Next game
No. 8 Kentucky at South Carolina
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 14-3 (4-1 SEC), South Carolina 15-3 (3-2)
Series: Kentucky leads 54-14
Last meeting: South Carolina won 71-68 on Jan. 10, 2023, in Lexington
This story was originally published January 20, 2024 at 11:12 PM.
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