Vicky Graff Photo
Kentucky coach John Calipari was not surprised that Zvonimir Ivisic played the way he did in his UK debut during Saturday’s 105-96 win over Georgia.
He went 5-for-7 from the field and finished with 13 points, five rebounds, three blocks, two assists and two steals in 16 minutes just a few hours after finally being cleared by the NCAA to participate.
However, while UK fans were giddy with what he did, especially in the first half, Calipari was a bit more subdued after the game.
“He got pushed around. There’s things that he is doing in practice the same way that we have got to work on. But he rebounded. He’s 7-foot-2. But they were sealing our bigs. And they could not move to get around,” Calipari said. “And I said, then file them. Just do anything to get around.
“And they — he got caught, Aaron (Bradshaw) got caught, Ugo (Onyenso) got caught. And they ended up shooting a bunch of lay-ups in the second half because of one thing, the guy standing in the middle of the lane for five seconds and doing that.”
Okay, the coach cannot be as overjoyed about what he saw as UK fans were when Ivisic went wild his first five minutes and had 11 of his 13 points to help the Cats break the game open.
He didn’t find out until after UK’s shoot around that he had been declared eligible. Calipari said he was “ecstatic” when he found out he could play.
“It was only a few of us there. The team had left. So, you know, we sent them a message and let him send it out (on social media),” Calipari said. “But it was — he was all smiles.
“He’s got a ways to go. I told them, do you know why he was wide open? Because they didn’t think he could shoot 3’s. They hadn’t seen him ever play. So… But it was a good start for him. It took a long, long time, but I appreciate the work everybody did to make it happen.”
Fans will remember the outside shots Ivisic made and his dazzling behind-the-back pass to Antonio Reeves for a 3-pointer. But what about his defense? Did Calipari like his rim protection?
“He rebounded the ball, five rebounds. But, again, he is like the rest of us. The end of the game we turned it over, like, for no reason. Why didn’t you just look at the guy and throw it to him? He threw, what are you doing? This isn’t like — we’re not in the gym playing a pickup game and it doesn’t matter. I mean, you want to finish people off,” Calipari said.
“I look at it and sometimes I probably expect too much. And, you know, I want them to be at their best every moment and that’s not going to happen.”
Georgia coach Mike White was impressed and said his team “gathered some film in a hurry” when it found out Saturday afternoon that he had been declared eligible.
“We knew he was a very talented and skilled player but to anticipate him coming in and firing from the deep immediately with the confidence level that he did was something we did not see coming,” White said.
Don’t worry, coach. Kentucky fans, if they are honest, didn’t expect anything like what they saw either but going forward the Big Blue faithful will be expecting that and more.
16 Responses
I liked when Big Z hung on the rim and the got the T.
The camera was looking right at Mitchell coming down the floor. He just covered his face with his hand, smiled and shook his head.
He’s got a ways to go is Cal’s excuse to play Edwards and Bradshaw over Z.
Cry and cry who cares who’s playing this team has got it. Just need work on defense
If that wasn’t some sort of fluke – he’s a lottery pick.
What a wonderful debut. He helps this team on both ends of the floor, and he must be playing, not sitting.
It was amazing Professor
Am schocked. Had resigned myself to the fact that the NCAA
would declare him ineligible and he would never play for UK.
Does this indicate they aren’t totally inept?
Note: Was so shocked l accidently misspelled the word shocked.
it happens
most fun game i seen in a long long long while out of kentucky
it was terrific Gary
The crowd was ELECTRIC ! ! ! I actually listened to the TV during the game! The fans were nuts! ! ! We are trying to get tickets to another game this season! ! We love the new attitude in Rupp! ! And that was as enjoyable a game as one could ask for. I know the " Sky is Falling" group will find something to cry about. But my goodness this team is fun, special, connected and makling me have to plan two vacations in April because the Final 4 is not the 60th Birthday present my wife wants. LOL! Go Cats!
Great start for Z. But our chemistry is great right now. Let Shepard, Dillingham and Z come off the bench.Leave the chemistry this team has alone.
I was laughing all through his first appearance in the first half, as I saw what he brought to the table. Now to see what he adds as he gets into playing shape and gets coached on how to cope with lesser skilled bigs from other teams.
He has such a nice 3 point stroke that they have to try to guard him, which has got to make life easier for our other guys operating down in the paint. I suspect that we will see those passes again, but in situations where the target is not surprised with the pass, but he will be sure of the target too. I had heard about his passing skills, now we will see them. Now we did not see his dribbling skills yet, but I have heard he has them too, which is another story, but may be like AD’s long range shooting, which we did not see, because it wasn’t needed by the team.
Hard to think that he hasn’t been playing, and even limited practice for much of the season, what with his bouts of illness. Still have a perma-grin thinking about it.
I think I have to agree. I’ve seen this too many times with Cal. He has to start the "High Profile" HS stars over sometimes better players that are sitting. Cal does this so he can get the best players every year for his "one & done" machine. What HS Superstar wants to go a program where he may have to sit before he plays ?
I’ll reserve final judgement after I’ve seen "Z" play a few games, but what he did on Saturday was certainly an upgrade to anything we have seen out of the "5" (with the exception of Tre Mitchell) so far. I still keep asking myself why Sheppard, one of the best guards in the Country, is sitting while Edwards starts every game ?
Hey Z is very interesting to watch. And very talented.