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Illini fill roster need with 7-1 Croatian

scott richey, the news-gazette, champaign-urbana, ill.
·4 min read

May 7—CHAMPAIGN — The Big Ten isn't quite the last bastion for 7-footers in college basketball, but it's a close thing.

There are 31/2 times as many players 7-foot or taller on Big Ten rosters than the Big East or SEC. The Big Ten also has as many 7-footers as the ACC and Big 12 teams combined.

Eight of the Big Ten's current 14 7-footers will be new to the conference in the 2024-25 season.

Indiana added one of the best transfers in 7-foot Arizona center Oumar Ballo. Michigan went with strength in big man numbers by signing Yale's Danny Wolf (7-0) and Florida Atlantic's Vladislav Goldin (7-1). Ohio State picked up a former five-star recruit in Kentucky's Aaron Bradshaw (7-1).

Those were just the most notable transfer additions. In wholly unsurprising fashion, Purdue will move on from the Zach Edey era in West Lafayette, Ind., by bringing in 7-3 freshman Daniel Jacobsen to pair with 7-2 Will Berg.

Not to be left out, Illinois made its own move in the 7-footer market Monday. It wasn't a case of any 7-footer would do. Signing 7-1 Croatian Tomislav Ivisic checked several boxes for Illini coach Brad Underwood.

"Tomislav is the modern day 5-man who fits right into our style of play as a big who can space the floor," Underwood said in an official release. "He can play in pick and rolls, is an elite passer and can step out in space and shoot threes. He also is a very good rim protector.

"Tomislav has played a lot of high-level basketball against older, established competition. That experience has made a tremendous impact on his development, and we are excited to add someone with his skill and versatility to our program."

Ivisic, whose twin brother Zvonimir played last season at Kentucky and followed John Calipari to Arkansas, has played the past three years for SC Derby in Podgorica, Montenegro. SC Derby plays in both Estre Liga — Montenegro's top domestic league — and the Adriatic League's first division (ABA League) with top teams from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia.

Ivisic averaged 11.9 points and 7.5 rebounds in 14 games in Erste Liga and 7.3 points and 3.9 rebounds in 24 games in the higher-level ABA League games. The former included a season-high 30 points to go with 12 rebounds, three assists and three blocks in a late December blowout of KK Ibar.

While Ivisic was SC Derby's fourth-leading scorer in Erste Liga action and sixth in the ABA League, the 7-1 center was markedly efficient offensively. He shot 57 percent overall in 38 combined games this past season, knocked down 43 percent of his three-point attempts (roughly 11/2 per game) and made 83 percent of his free throws.

Ivisic also has international experience, representing Croatia on four different occasions, including a brief stint with the senior national team last year at the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers. The bulk of his international experience, however, is at the youth and junior level. He made his international debut and played a minimal role at the 2018 FIBA U16 European Championship, averaged 10.9 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists at the 2019 FIBA U16 European Championship and put up 9.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game at the 2023 FIBA U20 European Championship last July in Greece.

The addition of Ivisic marks the eighth Illinois newcomer for the 2024-25 season, but given the near full-scale roster turnover, the Illini still have three available scholarships for next season.

Ty Rodgers and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn are the lone returning players from last season's 29-9 team that won the Big Ten tournament and reached the Elite Eight. The roster turnover came with Terrence Shannon Jr., Marcus Domask, Quincy Guerrier and Justin Harmon exhausting their eligibility, and Dain Danija, Sencire Harris, Amani Hansberry, Luke Goode and Coleman Hawkins entering the transfer portal.

Illinois signed a three-man 2024 recruiting class in November and will bring Morez Johnson Jr. and Jason Jakstys to campus. Jase Butler decommitted in April and signed with Washington.

Most of Underwood's roster moves in the last month have come via the transfer portal. The Illini have added Jake Davis (Mercer), Tre White (Louisville), Kylan Boswell (Arizona), Carey Booth (Notre Dame) and Ben Humrichous (Evansville) and still have the scholarship space to address the last major need in a scoring wing.