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Andrija Jelavić officially arrives on campus at Kentucky

Untitled design (2)by: Sam Gillenwater08/18/25samdg_33
Andrija Jelavić - Filip Barbalic, Cedevita Olimpija
Filip Barbalic | Cedevita Olimpija

Andrija Jelavić was the final piece needing to arrive in the bluegrass as part of the men’s basketball team for this season at Kentucky. Now, coming out of this weekend, that last piece has landed in Lexington.

Jelavić arrived in the United States over the weekend on Saturday, including several posts on his social media story on Sunday. He has now introduced himself to Big Blue Nation with a video posted to the Wildcats’ social media pages on Monday evening.

“Hello, BBN. I’m Andrija Jelavić,” he said in the clip. “I’m here on campus. I’m excited to get to work, to meet you all. And I’m excited to get number nine.”

UK has been watching for the arrival of Jelavić since his commitment back on April 12th. There was plenty of paperwork to be done in getting him from overseas but, as of this weekend, he finally arrived just over four months later on August 16th, which fit the two-week timeline he provided to the fanbase back on August 7th. That means he did just miss most of his teammates, who had been on campus for eight weeks of summer workouts since June, but, upon their return for the semester in the coming week or so, the Wildcats’ roster will be officially whole going into ’25-’26.

Jelavić, a native of Zagreb, Croatia, most recently competed for Mega Superbet, posting 11 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.0 steals per game in the Adriatic League. He also has appeared internationally with OKK Beograd, KK Mega Leks U18, and KK Cedevita Olimpija Junior while also having represented his country on the Croatian National Team in the 2022 U18 Euro Championships. He now brings all of that experience with him to one of the top-ranked teams for this upcoming season in college basketball with Kentucky.

“He’s doing great. He’s training back home, and I expect him to come in and have a great impact,” Mark Pope said of Jelavić back on July 21st. “He’s a vet. I mean, he’s been playing against grown men so he should bring a lot. And he’s also, I think he’s a, you know – he’s a, I think he’s a really good young man who’s been dreaming about this opportunity for a long time. I expect him to come in here and have an immediate impact.”

“We’re hoping to get him on campus at the end of this week as he goes through this whole process, but we have high, high hopes for him,” Pope said of Jelavić just last week on ‘Eye on College Basketball’.

Jelavić has been a bit of mystery as far as this roster this offseason as the lone player who had yet to arrive. Now, with him on campus, Kentucky can fully begin their preparation for next season in what’s year two under Pope.

WATCH: KSR breaks down Jelavić’s fit for Kentucky

Andrija Jelavić has now made the long trip from Croatia to Lexington. So, how quickly will what he did in his career overseas translate to playing for Kentucky? That’s what those at Kentucky Sports Radio recently broke down in discussing Jelavić’s fit with the Wildcats: