Sophomore Arkansas big man Zvonimir Ivisic has seen his offensive game grow since the beginning of the 2024-25 season.
A 7-foot-2, 245-pound native of Croatia, Ivisic is averaging 7.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game on 48.7% shooting from the field and 42.3% shooting from beyond the arc.
After an impressive start to non-conference play—including seven double-digit performances—an ankle injury and the resulting rustiness set Ivisic back to just 6.8 average minutes through five games from Dec. 30 to Jan. 14.
Against Missouri on Jan. 18, however, Ivisic rebounded in a big way. He scored 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting and collected 10 rebounds in the loss for his only double-double of the season. Since then, Ivisic has scored seven points (Georgia), 10 points (Oklahoma) and 14 points (Kentucky), respectively.
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According to associate head coach Kenny Payne, Ivisic’s improvement has been the result of evolvement offensively.
“I think Z is getting better,” Payne said Tuesday. “I believe that Z can also can catch the ball in the post and if he’s at a position to where he doesn’t need to dribble, he can get into a shot and at 7’2”, how do you block it? It becomes just a make or miss. He just has to keep evolving as a player.
Versus his former Kentucky team, Ivisic splashed a team-high four triples in 25 minutes behind Arkansas’ pick-and-pop setups. It’s the most threes Ivisic has made in a game since hitting six against Troy on Nov. 13.
“I thought his movements in those pick and pops to set screens…When you have a guy that’s mobile and shoots the ball like that, you can put him anywhere on the court. You’ve just got to find creative ways. One of the things is picking and popping. The other one is just running the offense with him on the perimeter where most five men are clogging up the lane.“
An area Ivisic is still learning to grow is on the defensive end, where he struggled against Kentucky center Amari Williams on Saturday. Williams scored a season-high 22 points and grabbed 11 boards against the Razorbacks, though him getting tough shots in the paint was part of Arkansas’ game plan, according to Payne.
“I thought there were plays that Kentucky did to isolate (Ivisic) in the post,” Payne said. “He was close, but he wasn’t quite there to making the offensive player score over him. He gave him a little bit (of) angles to the basket. He’s got to do a better job of that. He’s learning about balance. He’s not going to be 260 pounds right away, so he has to make sure he’s playing lower, and making sure he’s not giving angles to the basket.
“Being physical isn’t necessarily bumping and grinding, but making sure that he’s in between the offensive player and the basket. At 7’2”, he blocks a lot of shots, he contests a lot of shots. We need him to make those shots hard and difficult.”
Up next, Arkansas (13-8, 2-6 SEC) will travel to Austin, Texas, to face the Texas Longhorns on Wednesday. That game will tip off at 8 p.m. CT and it will air on ESPN2.
