Brad Underwood Reveals What Illinois Needs From a Healthy Zvonimir Ivisic

Back in early September, it was revealed by Illinois coach Brad Underwood that big man Zvonimir Ivisic had hurt his hand. At the time, the Illini didn’t seem to have much information about the injury (or Underwood wasn’t interested in sharing it). On Friday, though, at Illinois’ on-campus media day, Underwood offered good news on Big Z:

Brad Underwood offers encouraging injury update on Zvonimir Ivisic

“Z obviously hurt his hand while he was in Croatia, and he’s back full bore,” Underwood said. “He’s going. He’s had a tremendous start to our early practices and has really played himself back into good health and a nice place.”

Among players on the mend for Underwood’s club, that seems to leave just David Mirkovic, who is still recovering from his early-August foot surgery. And, compared to the 2025-26 preseason – which saw a handful of Illini battling injuries or health concerns – Illinois is in a fairly solid spot from a health perspective.

Brad Underwood on Zvonimir Ivisic: 'Much more than a three-point shooter'

Circling back to Ivisic, though, Underwood seems to be quite excited about what’s to come for his big man:

“He’s 260 pounds,” Underwood said. (For context, Ivisic was listed at 235 pounds as a freshman at Kentucky and 245 as a sophomore at Arkansas.) “The thing I’m most excited for Z is, he's healthy. He’s got his other leg that he’s not dragging. He’s been in the system. There’s comfort. I think that will help him tremendously.

“I think we saw some spurts in the NCAA Tournament last year that are just ‘wow’ moments. I think he can be one of the elite defenders, rim protectors, rollers in the country. And he can just do things. Here’s a guy that ran – at 262 pounds – ran a five-minute-and-22 mile, shattered all of our big guys’ records – and who does that? I mean we only got a few guards on our team that do that. And it’s my job to get all of that out of him.

“And he’s so much more than a three-point shooter or a guy who can shoot a three. We need him to be America’s best shot blocker and rim protector and roller and threat when he goes, because he’s so big, he’s so fast. I’m excited for what he’s become. I’m excited for the way he’s practicing right now. It’s nice to have him really feeling good about his body and where he’s at. And now to have him actually be able to catch and move with the hand is a real positive.”

Big Z is a physical anomaly. To move with the fluidity and agility he does at his size is abnormal. But when he just sits on the three-point line on offense, he isn’t taking advantage of any of his physical attributes.

As Underwood touched on, he has shown the ability to be an elite roller. When Ivisic, who is admittedly a solid shooter (33.6 percent from deep in his college career), decides to dive hard, it’s practically an automatic dunk if he can make a catch.

There’s no reason for Ivisic to avoid shooting threes – but he shouldn’t be hunting them. And Underwood seems to second that sentiment. Also, if Illinois does decide to turn it up a notch in terms of tempo this year, Ivisic could be a monster in the open floor.

With the ground he can cover, the motor he plays with and the length and vertical pop he possesses, Ivisic can be the best rim runner in the country if he wants (and if Illinois emphasizes it).

Defensively, there’s no secret what Ivisic can do. He enters 2026-27 projected as the No. 1 defender in the Big Ten and No. 4 defender in the nation, per EvanMiya. And if he puts it all together on both ends of the floor, Ivisic can be the best two-way reserve in the country.

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