NCAA says Kentucky freshman Zvonimir Ivisic is eligible to play basketball for the Cats

The wait is over. Zvonimir Ivisic can play basketball for the University of Kentucky.

Ivisic shared the news in a tweet Saturday afternoon, a few hours before UK’s 6 p.m. tipoff against Georgia in Rupp Arena.

“Hey, BBN. Guess what? I’m free,” he said. “See you all tonight at the game. And thank you all for the support. Go BBN.”

UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart also confirmed Saturday that Ivisic has been ruled eligible to play by the NCAA, and a UK spokesperson told the Herald-Leader that he would be available to play for the Wildcats moving forward.

Barnhart thanked the university, the UK Athletics staff and the NCAA for “working though this” process over the past few months. He said it was an “exciting time” for Wildcats coach John Calipari, the Kentucky basketball team and fans of the program.

Ivisic — a 7-foot-2 recruit from Croatia dubbed “Big Z” before his arrival at UK — went through the 2023 NBA draft process before pulling his name out of consideration and later giving a surprise commitment to Kentucky on Aug. 1, but numerous delays and roadblocks kept the promising big man from getting onto the court.

Expected to arrive in Lexington by the end of August, he was instead left waiting back home in Europe due to a drawn-out admissions process with the university. Ivisic, who turned 20 years old in August, was ultimately admitted to UK as a student in the first week of October and finally made it to campus on Oct. 12, the day before Big Blue Madness.

Kentucky fans have been supportive of Ivisic dating back to his admissions snafu with the school, before he even arrived on campus. That support has led to the battle cry of “Free Big Z” among the Wildcats fan base, and a group of UK supporters even raised money to place a billboard featuring that slogan outside NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis earlier this week.

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

He did not go through his first practice with the Wildcats until the week after Big Blue Madness, and conditioning issues after three days of workouts led Calipari to press the pause button on his integration into the team, sending Ivisic back into “ramp-up mode” to get into better game shape. Since then, two separate illnesses have caused Ivisic to miss multiple weeks of practice — one bout with food poisoning led to the loss of 10-12 pounds, according to Calipari — though the international prospect has since rejoined his teammates on the practice court.

Despite not arriving in Lexington until mid-October, the UK freshman did get to campus in time to enroll in “part-of-term” courses that would have allowed him to be academically eligible to compete during the fall semester. However, since Ivisic played for a professional team in Europe, there were questions about his amateur status, and that’s what the NCAA has spent the bulk of the past few months sorting out behind the scenes.

He’s now cleared to play for the Wildcats.

Big Z’s impact on UK

Calipari has expressed confidence since Ivisic’s arrival that the newest Wildcat would ultimately be cleared to play this season. The Kentucky coach has been less clear about how much he thinks the versatile 7-2 frontcourt player will impact the team in 2023-24.

There’s no doubting Ivisic’s potential. He has wowed coaches and teammates in practice with his shooting and ball-handling ability for a player of his size, and he’s most comfortable playing on the perimeter on offense. Defensively, he could provide a major shot-blocking threat for Kentucky near the rim, though he has been inconsistent guarding players away from the basket.

ESPN’s latest list of the top 100 prospects for the 2024 NBA draft place Ivisic in the No. 70 spot — just outside of the second round — but that projection is based more on long-term potential than instant-impact ability, and Calipari has promoted caution when talking about Ivisic.

“If you think he’s ready to walk in, dominate a game, you’re not thinking right,” Calipari said at one point in the preseason. “He’s not.”

The UK coach reiterated that once the season had started.

“He’s a basketball player, but the roughness of the game and some of that stuff, he’ll be behind. Conditioning, he’ll be behind,” Calipari said, around the time that Ivisic’s first illness sidelined him from practice.

More recently, Calipari has publicly said he was more concerned with getting an answer from the NCAA on Ivisic’s case — and getting the college freshman an opportunity to simply play for the Wildcats — than he was with whatever boost the international prospect could give UK on the court.

With fellow 7-footers Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso returning from offseason injuries last month, the need for Ivisic to step in and make a major impact right away has been lessened, but Calipari was nonetheless looking forward to seeing him compete for the Cats.

“He is a great kid that deserves it, and if he becomes eligible I will play him,” Calipari said after UK’s win over Mississippi State on Wednesday night. “I don’t know how much. Maybe both big guys don’t do good and then he 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.”

Whatever his immediate impact, Ivisic does give UK one more intriguing player on a roster filled with them.

Kentucky came into this season with a trio of 7-footers — Bradshaw (7-1), Onyenso (7-0) and Ivisic (7-2) — though all started the 2023-24 campaign on the sideline. Bradshaw and Onyenso both suffered foot injuries that led to surgeries in the offseason, and Ivisic sat while awaiting word from the NCAA and battling his own ailments since arriving in the United States.

Bradshaw — a McDonald’s All-American and possible first-round NBA draft pick — was the first of the trio to make his debut, playing 13 warm-up minutes in UK’s shock loss to UNC Wilmington on Dec. 2. A week later, Bradshaw broke out in a big way, going for 17 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots — all team highs — in an 81-66 victory over Penn on Dec. 9.

Before leaving Lexington for that trip, Bradshaw talked about his quickly forming bond with Ivisic, who he’s known for only three months but already considers one of his closest friends.

“We talk every day,” Bradshaw said. “… We were in the same boat. So I just tell him every day, ‘Bro, it’s a process.’ … Stuff is not always going to go your way. Now let’s see what you can do without the basketball part. Let’s see how you do in school. How you do in other stuff. And just becoming a better person.”

Bradshaw called Ivisic a “real generous” person and the funniest player on the team. While sidelined, he’s been one of the most animated players on Kentucky’s bench during games, quick to celebrate when things go the Wildcats’ way on the court.

Now, he’ll be able to join them.

Ivisic has already missed 16 games.

The remainder of Kentucky’s regular-season schedule — there are 15 games left, including the matchup with Georgia on Saturday night — will come against SEC competition, with the exception of a game against Gonzaga in Rupp Arena next month. The Cats are 13-3 with a 3-1 record in the SEC and a No. 8 ranking in the AP Top 25 poll.

Onyenso made his season debut in last month’s 87-83 win over North Carolina, tallying one point, one rebound and three blocks in nine minutes. He’s played a reserve role since then, while Bradshaw is now part of UK’s starting lineup.

Though Onyenso, a sophomore who played limited minutes last season, is more of a traditional center compared to the two freshmen, Calipari has said the addition of Bradshaw and Ivisic to UK’s rotation wouldn’t do much to change the team’s high-octane approach offensively, since both of those players can run the floor, face the basket and possess range that extends to the perimeter. And either should pair well with Tre Mitchell, who had been playing as UK’s undersized center for the start of the season.

Bradshaw and Mitchell started alongside each other for the first time against North Carolina on Dec. 16, and that’s remained UK’s frontcourt duo ever since.

Once they get fully acclimated, all three 7-footers should be able to help Kentucky’s rebounding, which has been a problem area for the Wildcats, and rim-protection, another issue in several of the team’s previous games.

“It changes who we are,” Calipari said recently of the possible addition of Bradshaw and Ivisic, specifically. “Now, you say, ‘Well, how are you going to play?’ You ready for this? They can play basketball. They can bounce it. You can still play five out. You could put Tre at the 4 or him at the 5 and those guys on the perimeter because of how they play and how they shoot.

“I know what you will have is someone near the rim that is 7-foot-2 that you are not just getting layups, which we are still giving up a lot of layups.”

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