Arkansas lands first commitment of John Calipari era

New Arkansas basketball coach John Calipari has his first scholarship player.

Former Kentucky center Zvonimir Ivisic entered the transfer portal on Saturday and committed to Arkansas on Monday. He averaged 5.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game in 11.7 minutes per game over 15 games for the Wildcats last year.

Calipari was officially named Razorbacks coach on Wednesday after 15 seasons at Kentucky. Several of his players entered the transfer portal shortly thereafter.

Ivisic has some of the highest potential of any such player. A 7-foot-2 big man, Ivisic played pro basketball in Montenegro before signing with Kentucky in August. He missed the Wildcats’ first 16 games while waiting to be cleared by the NCAA.

As of Monday night, Ivisic was the only scholarship player on the Arkansas roster after every player from last season’s team either entered the transfer portal or exhausted eligibility, save Trevon Brazile, who declared for the NBA Draft .

Arkansas went 15-17 in 2023-24, its worst record since the 2009-10 season when John Pelphrey, who was an assistant at Kentucky, was head coach.