Kentucky freshman Zvomimir Ivisic hits Jordan shrug in electric first half college basketball debut
Nobody is having a better Saturday than Kentucky‘s Zvomimir Ivisic. Shortly after being cleared by the NCAA, Ivisic made his college basketball debut against Georgia at Rupp Arena. And every moment has been electric, with Big Blue Nation loving what they are seeing out of the true freshman.
Ivisic making his debut would have brought enough hype, giving Kentucky an idea of what he was capable of. But multiple incredible plays have already been made, with the first being a behind-the-back pass down in the paint. Ivisic connected with Antonio Reeves, who then buried a three-pointer.
Rupp Arena exploded — at least more than a normal shot from deep to give Kentucky a nine-point lead early in the first half.
Reeves is not the only one willing to take a three-pointer. Ivisic himself can shoot and has made four shots from three in the first half. He will walk into the halftime locker room with 11 points in just eight minutes played.
Georgia decided to not cover Ivisic on one possession, which resulted in one of the made three-pointers. It wound up being nothing but net and caused the ESPN broadcast to ask “Are you kidding me?”
Not even Ivisic could believe what was going on, hitting the iconic Jordan shrug when running back on the defensive end. In the highlight package from SEC Network below, it’s the second play.
It was a long fight for Kentucky to get Ivisic eligible, even putting up a billboard. Seeing him get on the court had to be a special one for everyone involved in the process.
Head coach John Calipari recently spoke about Ivisic playing, saying he would not redshirt the freshman. Even though Kentucky was well into the regular season and playing well, Calipari does not believe it would have been fair to keep Ivisic on the bench once given eligibility.
“It’s not fair for him to go through what he did to get into school, two months, what he’s doing academically, how we use as a teammate,” Calapari said. “Every day he walks in, he says, ‘Hey, Coach Cal!’ Yesterday or two days ago, I said to him, ‘I just want you to know I feel bad, because I don’t like how you were treated from the beginning until now.’ He’s just a great kid and he deserves it.”
There is still a whole second half for Kentucky to play, giving Ivisic plenty more opportunities to produce highlight plays.