WATCH: Zvonimir Ivisic makes Kentucky debut

How fun was Saturday night at Rupp Arena? In Kentucky’s 105-96 win over Georgia, we saw veterans Tre Mitchell and Antonio Reeves each go for 20-plus points. Reed Sheppard continues to be an absolutely sharpshooter from three-point range. DJ Wagner is starting to stack good games together. The Wildcats look like a national title contender again but that is not the story.

True freshman big Zvonimir Ivisic is the story. The Big Blue Nation currently cannot get enough of the rookie who made his season debut against UGA after finally being cleared by the NCAA.

Kentucky’s social media team is now feeding all of us some behind the scenes content from his debut. You’re going to want to hammer that play button.

Kentucky Basketball Presents: @zvonimir_ivisic 🎥 pic.twitter.com/BpYt561Org

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) January 22, 2024

In his first game in college basketball, Zvonimir Ivisic played 16 minutes, scored 13 points on seven field goal attempts, poured in a trio of triples, grabbed five rebounds, dished out two assists, and blocked three shots. A team having a great season all of a sudden has another weapon to utilize.

“He got pushed around. There’s things that he’s doing in practice the same way, that we got to work on. But he rebounded. He’s seven-foot-two. But they were sealing our bigs and they could not move to get around, and I said, then foul them. Just do anything to get around,” John Calipari said after the game. “And he got caught, Aaron got caught, Ugo got caught, and they ended up shooting a bunch of layups in the second half.”

“You people were going nuts, going crazy. I know Z made a shot, and I see people dancing and spinning, and I get all that, but you all have to understand every game these guys play on the road is like that. And that’s why I want the same thing for everyone that walks into our building.”

Expect another rowdy environment in Kentucky’s next home game when Tennessee rolls into town on Feb. 3.