Zvonimir Ivisic got back on the court for Kentucky. Will we see more of him in the future?
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Game day: No. 17 Kentucky 109, Vanderbilt 77
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Vanderbilt at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tennessee.
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A Kentucky basketball star was born two and a half weeks ago in Rupp Arena, that celebratory Saturday when Zvonimir Ivisic was finally cleared by the NCAA and immediately made good on the months of anticipation with a dazzling debut.
In the four games that immediately followed that day, Ivisic didn’t do much of anything, his star fading just as quickly as it had emerged, the 7-foot-2 Croatian sensation doing a whole lot more watching than playing as the Wildcats struggled through two difficult weeks on the court.
As Big Z sat, his coaches said he was too far behind — both defensively and just plain in general — to be trusted with meaningful minutes in the thick of the SEC schedule.
In Saturday night’s 103-92 loss to Tennessee, he didn’t play at all. In the two games before that, he never got off the bench in the second half. And then came Tuesday night, when Ivisic checked in against Vanderbilt after the first TV timeout and ultimately made his biggest impact in any game since the debut against Georgia.
After Ivisic put up 11 points, seven rebounds, two assists and one blocked shot before fouling out in 12 eventful minutes of Kentucky’s 109-77 beatdown of the Commodores, his head coach came right out and said why he didn’t play much in the two previous weeks.
“He didn’t practice for two weeks,” John Calipari said. “How you gonna play ’em?”
The coach cut off a later question regarding the reasons for Ivisic being behind and got straight to the point.
“He was far behind because he wasn’t practicing,” Calipari declared. “If you want to know what they were, there were like nine different things. Things that I didn’t even realize could happen. And, I just (said), ‘Kid, do you ever want to play here? Well, you’re gonna have to practice.’ He had his best practice yesterday. So now he’s all excited. Yeah, that’s how this works!”
Ivisic, who arrived in the United States on Oct. 12, has been in and out of the Wildcats’ practices ever since, minor injuries and ailments keeping him off the court. He wasn’t cleared to play for Kentucky until Jan. 20 — the NCAA issuing the green light a few hours before the Cats’ game against Georgia that night — and the months of buildup toward his debut paid off big time.
In that game, Ivisic had 11 points, three rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals in just eight first-half minutes, the Cats outscoring the Bulldogs by 20 points with him on the court, whipping behind-the-back passes and dazzling with his 3-point range. He ended up with 13 points in UK’s 105-96 win, stealing the show and shooting up NBA draft boards off a single appearance.
And then, not much.
Ivisic played 10 minutes and was a non-factor in Kentucky’s 79-62 loss at South Carolina three days later, an all-systems failure on a night when nothing went right for the Cats. He came in with 9:44 left in the first half four days later at Arkansas, putting up no shots and grabbing two rebounds in less than three minutes on the court.
The most memorable image from that appearance was Ivisic giving up an offensive rebound to the Razorbacks’ Makhi Mitchell, then allowing him to scoot by on the baseline for an easy bucket to put Arkansas up 18-8.
“Ivisic had him pinned in and allowed him to get by on the baseline side. You just have to cut that baseline side off,” ESPN’s Jay Bilas said of the play.
Mitchell might have been guilty of a hook that wasn’t called, but Ivisic failed to block his path on the baseline, even with teammate Reed Sheppard collapsing to cut off the other side of the court. At the next whistle, Calipari yanked Ivisic from the game. He didn’t return.
“Z’s just got to catch up to us,” Calipari said. “And he’ll be fine. And he was happy as heck after the game. We won, so he’s not worried about it.”
In the next game against Florida — a 94-91 overtime loss for UK — he scored one point in a little less than six minutes. Three days later, he never got off the bench against Tennessee.
Before the Florida game, UK assistant coach Chuck Martin talked about Ivisic’s situation.
“I think, defensively, just the concepts — how we defend, how we defend ball screens, get back in transition,” Martin said. “I think Z had such a special moment in his first game — it was unreal, it was a made-for-TV movie — that the expectations were so high after that one game that we’ve forgotten that he had not played all year. So he’s still trying to figure out how we defend.
“Offensively, our spacing. And, really, what he did that night was just instincts. It was a great moment for him and us, but I think, realistically, we’ve gotta settle down a little bit — settle him down a little bit — and get him back to fundamentals. … And I think once he gets that, he’s going to be pretty good.”
Before the Vanderbilt game, fellow UK assistant Bruiser Flint was a little more blunt, acknowledging the excitement of Ivisic’s debut while pointing out the quickness in which he was elevated in the eyes of so many.
“You’re at Kentucky now,” Flint said with chuckle. “Y’all put him at God status, and then he sort of came down a little bit. But that was an unbelievable debut, right? What can you say? But, again, even in that game — I know you guys don’t know — he was in the wrong spot, he just made shots. But I think Z, when it’s all said and done, I think he’ll help us.”
He showed more of that flash in Nashville, nailing an early 3-pointer, battling for offensive rebounds, even hitting Jordan Burks with a two-handed touch pass for a dunk in transition.
The day before, Flint preached patience, difficult as that might be with the visual of Ivisic’s debut still so fresh in everyone’s mind.
“I think for Z, it’s probably long term, more so than short term,” he said. “Because it’s hard to bring somebody in in February. Even when you’re practicing. And unfortunately, Z’s been a little injured, and he’s been a little sick. So he’s missed his practice time, too. So I think for Z, it’s down the road. Just say, ‘Look, we’re going to try and slide you in slowly. But down the road, when we really get into it — SEC Tournament, NCAA Tournament — we’ll see where we are for him to really make an impact.’
“But he’s got a lot to learn.”
That kind of timeline is likely to be unsettling for many UK fans. Ivisic, even though he hasn’t been playing much, is viewed as a likely one-and-done at Kentucky, this being a stopover for the 20-year-old on the way to the 2024 NBA draft. If that’s the case, he doesn’t have much time left to make a bigger mark on Kentucky basketball.
The win over Vanderbilt on Tuesday night was evidence of Ivisic’s immense potential. While he made some highlights in Memorial Gym, he also often looked lost on the court — on both sides of the ball — leaving Calipari shaking his head on the sidelines.
When Ivisic finally fouled out toward the end, he headed back to the Kentucky bench, and Calipari intercepted him near midcourt. The UK coach got down in a crouch, explaining to the freshman what he should’ve been doing on the play. A teaching moment.
Ivisic nodded and started to make his way to the bench. And Calipari reached back to grab him, pulling him closer and shaking his hand, a clear act of encouragement. After the game, he mentioned Ivisic’s three turnovers.
“Just make easy plays,” Calipari pleaded. “You’re such a good player. You don’t have to do that.”
And then came the “but” — and the acknowledgment that, if Ivisic can stay on the practice floor, his talent is such that he’ll be able to play meaningful minutes, no matter how far behind he might be.
“I’ll tell ya,” Calipari said. “He’s a difference-maker.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2024 at 7:00 AM.
