CBS Sports has named Kentucky’s Zvonimir Ivisic national freshman of the week following his explosive debut against Georgia.
Big Z came off the bench just hours after being ruled eligible by the NCAA. He finished with 13 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals and 2 assists in only 16 minutes of play.
Here is an excerpt:
Freshman of the Week: Zvonimir Ivišić, Kentucky
Welcome back to the Frosh Watch, our weekly ranking of the five most impressive freshmen in college basketball. CBS Sports has once again teamed up with the United States Basketball Writers Association and its Wayman Tisdale Freshman of the Year Award to present this every-Tuesday feature. Each week we’ll start by announcing the national Freshman of the Week honoree. The cycle for FOTW runs Tuesday-Monday.
The 7-foot-1 Croatian big man shined in his first college action. His addition gives Kentucky a new wrinkle no matter how much or how little he plays. Ivišić played professionally in the ABA League and committed to Kentucky less than five months ago. He can make an impact on an already-loaded roster.
There were multiple different players who put up notable stat lines that got consideration for Freshman of the Week. Heck, even Ivišić’s teammate Wagner captured SEC Freshman of the Week. Washington State’s Myles Rice had a heroic performance in a near win over Cal and sent the game to overtime with a last-second shot … but Ivišić simply took the college basketball world by storm and had a debut we’ll be talking about for a long time.
