Calipari says he won’t redshirt Zvonimir Ivisic. ‘If he becomes eligible I will play him.’

John Calipari doesn’t plan on redshirting center Zvonimir Ivisic, despite the still ongoing process of the NCAA determining the freshman’s eligibility to play this season.

Following Kentucky’s 90-77 home win over Mississippi State on Wednesday night at Rupp Arena, Calipari offered his latest thoughts on the Ivisic saga, which has now stretched into a months-long ordeal.

The Kentucky coach — just minutes removed from winning his 400th game with the Wildcats — began by immediately shooting down the idea that he might redshirt Ivisic, the 7-foot-3 prospect from Croatia who committed to UK in August and arrived in Lexington on Oct. 12 after a delayed admissions process.

“I won’t redshirt him. It is not fair for him to go through what he did to get in the school, two months, what he is doing academically, how he is as a teammate,” Calipari said. “Every day he walks in and says, ‘Hey, Coach Cal.’ Yesterday, or two days ago, I said to him, you know, I just want you to know I feel bad because I don’t like the way you were treated from the beginning to now. And he said, ‘Coach, I’m good. I’m good. I appreciate you saying it, but I’m good.’”

Ivisic has missed all 16 games of the Wildcats’ season so far. In fact, he hasn’t participated in any kind of official competition for the Cats, including preseason events like Big Blue Madness and the Blue-White scrimmage.

Viewed as a possible NBA draft pick later this year, Ivisic has only gotten to participate in practices with the Wildcats.

“He is a great kid that deserves it and if he becomes eligible I will play him. I don’t know how much,” Calipari said. “Maybe both big guys don’t do good and then (Ivisic) goes nuts and we look around and say, oh my gosh, they are not going to play anymore. Maybe. Or maybe it is like, geesh, these two are better than him. We’ll see.”

The drawn-out NCAA process of determining Ivisic’s eligibility — he previously played for a professional development team in Europe — appears to have finally reached a tipping point for both Calipari and Kentucky fans.

During his weekly radio show Monday night, Calipari hinted he might soon get aggressive with the NCAA over the holdup.

“There are European kids playing around the country. And they’re playing. And he’s not. So hopefully we hear something,” Calipari said Monday night. “I just know that — around the country — people are being very aggressive, when it comes to different stuff with the NCAA. And my hope is — if this thing lingers too much longer — then we become aggressive.”

And a billboard has now been put up just down the street from the NCAA Eligibility Center in Indianapolis with “#FREEBIGZ” emblazoned on it.

The billboard was paid for by Kentucky fans via an online fundraising campaign. That billboard was referenced during the ESPN2 broadcast of Wednesday’s game.

That same phrase — an oft-cited one by Kentucky fans this season — was also printed across a shirt that freshman Jordan Burks wore this month as he walked into the arena for UK’s SEC opener at Florida.

Before that game, the trio of Burks, Ivisic and fifth-year forward Tre Mitchell posed for a photo together with the garment.

During Wednesday night’s press conference, Calipari was also asked about the “#FREEBIGZ” billboard, and specifically the kind of support it shows Ivisic while he waits on the sideline to learn if he can play or not for UK.

“I would say that doing that shows how the fans are here,” Calipari said.

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