Kentucky center Zvonimir Ivisic was finally ruled eligible by the NCAA on Saturday before Kentucky’s game against Georgia. Ivisic was a 5-star center from Croatia who signed with Kentucky back in the off-season. When he first committed, however, some problems started to arise, the University of Kentucky was taking time to allow him to be accepted into the University. After a couple of months, he was finally accepted into UK and many thought the wait was finally over. However, it was not.
When he was accepted into Kentucky, he was just awaiting clearance from the NCAA to let him play. All throughout the off-season he was awaiting acceptance but got no answer. The season started and still no word was given on the status of Big Z. Kentucky fans got restless, to say the least. A couple of months into the season, a Kentucky fan started a Go fund me page to raise money for a billboard to be put outside the NCAA headquarters that read “Free Big Z”. Around 2 or 3 weeks went by with the sign-up and then on Saturday 1/20 when Kentucky was hosting Georgia, a couple of hours before the game the NCAA made him eligible. He was able to finally play.
Before the game, the news got out that Z was eligible. Kentucky fans went crazy. The game became sold out and all the focus was shifted towards him. No one knew how many minutes he would play and really how good he would play. When he first came into the game following the Under 16-minute television timeout, the crowd at Rupp Arena popped. You could hear how loud it was over the TV. He came in a made an immediate impact. He got a block on his first defensive play and then shortly after made a behind-the-back pass to teammate Antonio Reeves for the wide-open three. Big Z wouldn’t stop there, though. He would go on to hit his next 4 shots, 3 of them being 3pts. Kentucky would win the game by a score of 105-96 and improve to a record of 14-3. Zvonimir Ivisic would finish with – 13pts, 3blk, 2stl, 2ast, 5reb, 3-4 3pt, 5-7fg, and only 16 min.
Big Z has taken the college basketball landscape by surprise and has shot up the draft board for many NBA scouts. In his second game he didn’t play as well and Kentucky fell to South Carolina 79-62. Kentucky is currently 15-4 and 5-2 in the SEC. Kentucky plays host to Florida Wednesday night and then hosts Tennessee Saturday night.
