Andrija Jelavic is expected to arrive in Lexington this weekend

At long last, Mark Pope will have his entire 2025-26 Kentucky roster together on campus — the final missing piece set to arrive in the coming days.

The Wildcats spent the summer without Andrija Jelavic, but will start the fall semester with the Croatian forward in Lexington with the rest of his new teammates. His agent, Misko Raznatovic, tells KSR that he will be in Kentucky this weekend.

After breaking from summer workouts on August 7, players are due back to campus by August 21 before classes start on August 25. Jayden Quaintance is already making his way back to continue the rehab process, recovering from surgery to repair a torn ACL. Denzel Aberdeen and Reece Potter are also in town getting early work in, while the rest of the team will trickle in over the next week.

Jelavic is arriving early to start the testing and conditioning process, just as Pope had the other Wildcats do to start the summer in early June. From there, Kentucky as a group will ramp up fall workouts, along with other team bonding activities, before official practice begins in September.

“I expect him to come and have a great impact,” Pope said of Jelavic in July. “… He’s a vet. He’s been playing against grown men, so he should bring a lot. 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 here and have an immediate impact.”

Suiting up for Mega Superbet last season, Jelavic averaged 10.7 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 27.5 minutes per outing. He shot 48.5 percent from the field, 30.5 percent from deep, and 69.4 percent from the line across 29 games played.

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