Illinois basketball added a big name to its roster on Saturday and kept another.
Literally.
The Illini got a commitment from 7-foot-2 center Zvonimir Ivicic, the twin brother of Illini 7-footer Tomislav Ivisic — who also announced he would return to Illinois for the 2025-26 season, according to posts from the Croatian players on social media.
Zvonimir comes to Champaign after a season at Arkansas and one at Kentucky, both with coach John Calipari. Zvonimir averaged 8.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in 35 games for the Razorbacks, including 19 starts. He will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.
Tomislav is coming off a dynamic freshman season at Illinois, where he averaged 13.0 points, a team-leading 7.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks.
Zvonimir is the Illini basketball team's first transfer portal addition since it opened March 24. Illinois has lost four players to the transfer portal in Carey Booth (Colorado State), Morez Johnson Jr. (Michigan), Tre White (Kansas) and Dra Gibbs-Lawthorn.
Now, the Illini boast one of the tallest frontcourts in college basketball.
The Fighting Illini went 22-13 overall in 2024-25 including 12-8 in the Big Ten Conference. They earned a No. 6 seed in the Midwest Region, defeated Xavier and ...
