Zvonimir Ivisic has been freed. And now, he’s made his college basketball debut.
On Saturday afternoon, it was finally announced that Ivisic — Kentucky’s 7-foot-2 freshman center from Croatia — has been ruled eligible to play for John Calipari’s Wildcats by the NCAA.
Ivisic announced the news in a social media post, and his eligibility was also confirmed by UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart.
Just hours later, Ivisic made his first in-game appearance for Kentucky during UK’s SEC home contest against Georgia at Rupp Arena.
Right at the 16:00 mark of the first half, Ivisic made his way to the scorer’s table and checked into the game for the Wildcats following that media timeout.
As Ivisic made his way to the scorer’s table, a loud roar built within Rupp Arena, even as the two teams on the court went back to their respective benches for the timeout prior to Ivisic’s college debut.
Georgia led Kentucky 10-8 when Ivisic made his first appearance as a Wildcat.
And to say that Ivisic made an impact in his initial run of 2:43 on court time with the Cats would be an understatement.
UK went from down two points to up nine points during this span with Ivisic on the floor, an 11-point swing. UK didn’t allow a point to Georgia during this stretch of playing time.
Less than 40 seconds into his college basketball debut, Ivisic rose up at the rim and blocked a would-be layup attempt from Georgia’s Jabri Abdur-Rahim, the Bulldogs’ leading scorer.
In total, Ivisic had two assists, one block and one steal during his initial burst of playing time.
This included a behind-the-back, no-look pass to Antonio Reeves for an open 3-pointer, which Reeves made, and that led to a Georgia timeout.
