Zvonimir Ivisic not at Rupp Arena for Kentucky vs. Marshall due to illness

Kentucky big man Zvonimir Ivisic is not in attendance for Friday’s game against Marshall, the Wildcats announced. He’s dealing with an illness and is not on the bench.

Ivisic still hasn’t been cleared for game action after enrolling at Kentucky this year. The program is still waiting to hear from the NCAA to see if he’s approved to play. John Calipari previously confirmed Ivisic is able to practice, but is not allowed to play in competition at this point.

Calipari has expressed confidence that Ivisic will be able to play at some point this year. However, now six games into the season, UK is still awaiting a decision.

Zvonimir Ivisic is absent from the bench tonight due to illness.

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) November 25, 2023

Calipari’s last update came ahead of Kentucky’s game against Kansas, and he said there’s still some time for the NCAA to make a call. Zvonimir Ivisic was accepted into the university last month, and the NCAA has 45 days to make a decision. That’s why he said something — one way or another — should come soon.

“We’ve got to hear on (Ivisic) in the next couple of days or he will not,” Calipari said.

“The NCAA has 45 days to make a judgement from the time he gets here. So there’s still a couple weeks left in that. So, if we’d have gotten him in earlier, we would know. But it is what it is. It’s not the NCAA – they’ve got a choice. Again, they get information, they ask questions, they get answers from the club and everybody. That’s where it is right now. My hope is they have enough information to make a decision before the game tomorrow.”

Kentucky is off to a quick start to the season, bringing a 4-1 record into Friday’s game against Marshall. The Wildcats’ only loss came to Kansas in the Champions Classic — an 89-84 Jayhawks victory. That game showed Calipari plenty of good signs about this year’s group as UK kept pace with the top team in the country, and he explained why afterward.

“What I was proud of was they fought. That’s a huge team and they had to fight to survive,” Calipari said. “We got down early and it looked like what everybody said would happen – we’re going to get smashed. Then, all of a sudden, we’re up.”

“I was proud of them,” Calipari said. “I mean Robert (Dillingham) went on a run, other guys that didn’t play well offensively rebounded and defended pretty good. Reed (Sheppard) was good, Jordan Burks was really good.”