John Calipari reveals Zvonimir Ivisic had food poisoning

Zvonimir Ivisic remains a mystery to everyone in the bluegrass ahead of the upcoming basketball season. According to John Calipari, though, the NCAA isn’t all that kept him away from Rupp Arena on Thursday night.

Leading into Kentucky’s final exhibition with Kentucky State, Calipari had said Ivisic would be warming up with his teammates pregame. When that time came, he was nowhere to be found. Then, following the 99-53 victory, Calipari opened his postgame press conference by making it known that they’d found out that Ivisic was dealing with food poisoning and had to return to campus.

“‘Z was supposed to warm up with us,” explained Calipari. “He practiced with us yesterday, had a great shootaround today.”

“This kid’s got, like, buzzard luck. He got food poisoning,” Calipari said. “So where is he? They said he got sick and the doctor told him to go back to the lodge. But he’s doing better.”

Ivisic has still yet to make his official debut for Kentucky since arriving in Lexington in mid-October.

After arriving, his body was not yet ready to handle the grind and, in turn, didn’t do much at Big Blue Madness while not participating at all during the team’s Blue-White scrimmage. Now, with actual opponents on the slate for the Wildcats, Ivisic isn’t able to participate until the NCAA officially clears his eligibility.

With the question mark in UK’s frontcourt, they’re eventually going to need any of Ivisic, Aaron Bradshaw, or Ugonna Onyenso to be back. Since he’s still ineligible anyway, though, the first thing for the 7’2 freshman out of Croatia is to get over his sudden stomach bug.

Calipari reacts to the death of Bob Knight

The college basketball world lost one of its all-time greats on Wednesday when Bob Knight passed away at age 83. He spent 29 years of his Hall of Fame career at Indiana, winning three national championships and winning more than 660 games.

In light of his passing, multiple current and former coaches have weighed in. That includes Kentucky’s John Calipari who paid tribute to Knight on social media later that night.

“Bobby Knight, one of the greatest coaches of all-time, has passed away,” Calipari wrote. “I know his family and the Indiana family are hurting. All of us who love the game of basketball are hurting with them. Rest in peace, Coach Knight.”

Calipari and Knight never faced off as head coaches. That said, Knight’s impact on the game of basketball and its coaches stretches far and wide.