The twin brother of Big Z could be a big problem for Kentucky. Just don’t call him Big T
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Preview: Kentucky vs. Illinois in NCAA Tournament
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Kentucky basketball fans who haven’t tuned in to watch Illinois yet this season will likely feel a sense of déjà vu during the NCAA Tournament matchup between the two teams Sunday.
One of the Illini’s star players is Tomislav Ivisic. That last name should sound familiar. Tomislav is the twin brother of Zvonimir Ivisic, the Croatian basketball sensation that took Big Blue Nation by storm last season.
The ex-Wildcat — the first player on the 2023-24 roster to leave Kentucky and follow John Calipari to Arkansas — was dubbed “Big Z” by the former UK basketball coach before he even showed up on campus. Calipari acknowledged at the time that he didn’t know how to properly pronounce Ivisic’s name.
Tomislav, of course, was following his brother’s journey to the United States with great interest. He had heard others in America get the name “completely wrong” and wondered if his twin would end up with a nickname as a result. When the “Big Z” moniker was born, Tomislav understood.
“None of my teammates can say my last name here right either,” he said with a grin.
As his brother settled into Lexington, he saw photos of billboards and T-shirts emblazoned with “Big Z.” It even caught on across the ocean.
“A lot of my friends call him Big Z back home,” Ivisic acknowledged, crediting the Kentucky fans for the spread of the nickname and confirming that no one had ever called Zvonimir that before.
Naturally, those same friends tried to extend the trend to Tomislav, who was briefly dubbed “Big T.”
“I told them, ‘Don’t call me that.’ It’s not original,” Ivisic said. “My twin brother’s Big Z, so I’m not tryin’ to be Big T.”
Whatever you call him — and it’s “Tomi” to most of his friends and teammates in the States — the post player not known as Big T could be a big problem for the Wildcats on Sunday.
The 7-foot-1, 230-pound center is averaging 12.8 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.1 blocks per game for the Illini. Like his brother, he enjoys playing on the perimeter. Tomislav is shooting 35.2% from 3-point range, with 50 makes on the season.
And while there are lots of similarities between the two players’ games, there are some clear differences. “Z” — as Tomislav calls his brother — is a better rim-protector and more athletic. But “Tomi” has more physicality to his game, and he’s more comfortable playing in the post than his brother was last season.
Both are incredibly skilled. And both were recruited by Orlando Antigua, who helped bring Z to UK as Calipari’s top assistant before last season and played a key role in delivering Tomislav to Illinois coach Brad Underwood prior to this one.
“He’s been an anchor for us,” Antigua said. “He’s steadfast. A guy that you can do so many things with. You can post him. You can play through him. He can make decisions. He can pass. He can make free throws. Obviously, he can shoot the ball.
“So when you get a kid with that kind of skill set, it’s a pretty important part of your team, in terms of the way we play.”
Illinois, like Mark Pope’s Kentucky team, tends to play a five-out style offensively, and Ivisic has been a key cog in that setup. He might not have been in this situation if not for his brother.
“I was waiting for him to see,” Tomislav said of his decision of whether or not to pursue a college basketball career. “‘How is he going to do? How is he going to get along here?’ But after I saw him liking it over here — and just talking to him about everything — it made me realize that I want to come here, too.”
Following Big Z to America
The twins — Z is older by just four minutes — had always been teammates. They were born in Croatia and were playing in Montenegro when Zvonimir decided to make the jump to college. UK fans need no reminder of the saga that followed as his admissions process to the university turned into an ordeal and the NCAA looked into possible eligibility issues, the latter investigation dragging into the season, until he was finally ruled eligible in January.
The older Ivisic also struggled with injury and illness — acknowledging he had trouble getting used to American food — in the early going, but the reviews of life in Kentucky were apparently positive.
“He really liked it there,” Tomislav said. “He had some admission problems in the beginning, so he couldn’t play from the start. But overall, his experience there was great. He told me all the best about fans, about the culture there, about facilities, about the city.
“I only have good opinions about Kentucky, I only know good things about it.”
While Z was a Wildcat, his brother also got to know Antigua.
The twins spoke every day, often for hours at a time.
“Those guys were FaceTiming each other late nights,” Antigua said. “And I’d try to get Z to go to bed. And there’s a seven-hour difference. And one is eating. They want to play video games with each other. And so I’m fighting both of them. ‘Come on, man, let the guy go to sleep!’”
Antigua ended up at Illinois after Calipari left Kentucky for Arkansas, and Underwood needed a versatile 5 for the offense he wanted to run.
“I know a guy,” Antigua recalled with a smile.
It’s worked out for everybody.
Before he came over, Tomislav said Zvonimir had prepped him for American life, so he wouldn’t run into some of the same early troubles. The NCAA assigned him a sophomore class designation, so he bypassed the eligibility saga that Z had experienced.
He said he didn’t run into the same issues with food at the beginning. His favorite American dish is chicken Alfredo, though he still prefers Croatian cuisine. Burek — which he described as a sort of “meat pie” — is the dish he misses the most from back home.
The rules of college basketball took some getting used to, as well.
Big Z’s UK debut was a smashing success, but he did get a technical foul for hanging on the rim in that game. He laughed afterward that he didn’t know he wasn’t allowed to do that. Tomislav was told before his first college game of the rule.
“Coach O knew that I would have the same problem, so he explained it to me immediately,” he said with a grin.
Both brothers struggled with American free throws and the bonus system.
“That was a new thing for me,” Tomi said. “I just asked the ref every time, ‘Is it one and one? Is it two?’”
As he was speaking in the Illinois locker room Saturday afternoon, his brother’s new team — the Arkansas Razorbacks — were putting St. John’s away to advance to the Sweet 16. As the buzzer sounded, Tomislav craned his neck to get a better look at the TV.
He figured he’d be on the phone with Z soon. They still talk every day. The Arkansas win also gave him a little extra motivation going into Sunday’s game against the Wildcats.
“He can’t be the one that went further than me,” Tomislav said of Z’s upcoming trip to the Sweet 16. “So I will do my best to match his performance.”
This story was originally published March 22, 2025 at 7:54 PM.
