Zvonimir Ivisic just got contacts because he couldn't 'see the rim for three years'

Zvonimir Ivisic was apparently playing basketball half-blind during his time at Kentucky.

On Sunday, Ivisic, who now plays at Illinois, said after the Fighting Illini’s preseason win over Illinois State that he “couldn’t see the rim for three years” and had to get contacts during the offseason. The 7-foot-2 big man out of Croatia played his freshman season at Kentucky in 2023-24 before transferring to Arkansas for the 2024-25 campaign.

Ivisic is now at his third school in three years, joining his younger brother Tomislav in Champaign. He’ll finally be able to see what’s happening on the court, too. Although Ivisic’s eyesight didn’t stop him from shooting 37.6 percent from deep during his first two college seasons — he better be topping 40-plus percent in 2025-26 now that he can supposedly see clearly.

#illini Zvonimir Ivisic said he got contacts for the first time: "I couldn't see the rim for three years."

— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) October 19, 2025

Ivisic finished with 15 points, five rebounds, and two blocks during Sunday’s 92-65 exhibition win. He was also hit with a technical foul after hanging on the rim following a dunk, which his teammate David Mirkovic (also an international prospect) didn’t realize was a technical foul. “In Europe, that’s not a technical,” Mirkovic reportedly said postgame.

If that sounds familiar for Big Z, it’s because it happened during his time in Lexington. In the midst of his electric college debut against Georgia in January 2024, Ivisic dunked the ball for his final points of the game. Instead of dropping down, he did a chin-up, which results in an automatic tech. It’s been a while since then, but Ivisic does at least know better.

“I forgot about it,” Ivisic said in Jan. 2024 through a smile in the postgame press conference. “I’m still kinda knowing the rules. I don’t know every rule here. My bad Coach, I’m sorry.“

While we’re here talking about Ivisic, did you read KSR’s story from earlier in the offseason about his connection with Kentucky sophomore big man Andrija Jelavić? Jelavić was able to spill the beans on what actually happened when Ivisic got sick during his season at UK.

“The one thing I knew about (Ivisic) is that he killed himself with the Papa John’s pizza the first two weeks,” Jelavić told KSR. “The first two weeks, he was really sick. So he said, ‘Don’t do that.’ He didn’t give me any other warnings.”

Ivisic has avoided the Papa John’s and now has contacts — he’s off to a good start at Illinois so far.