'He's on a heater,' Calipari talks Ivisic's role reversal, avenging loss at LSU

A month ago Zvonimir Ivisic watched mostly from the bench as the Arkansas Razorbacks (15-9, 4-7 SEC) suffered perhaps their most disappointing loss in SEC play to date against the LSU Tigers (12-12, 1-10 SEC) in Baton Rouge, La. on January 14. However in Wednesday's rematch in Bud, Ivisic took center stage in what is becoming a dramatic role reversal to help the Razorbacks to a 70-58 get-back win at Bud Walton Arena.

The 7-2 Kentucky transfer out of Croatia made up for a zero-point effort in only seven minutes of play at the Pete Maravich Center in January, but delivered his second consecutive twenty-point-plus effort with 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting in 28 minutes of play on Wednesday. "Big Z" — as he is called by the media and teammates — also added four blocked shots, three rebounds and a steal in the game.

John Calipari talks Ivisic's role and avenging loss at LSU

"He's probably one of the better three-point shooters in the country, definitely in our league," Arkansas assistant coach Chin Coleman told the media afterwards while standing in for head coach John Calipari. "So, coach is doing a good job of utilizing his skill set. And the one person that is more simpler in terms of schematics, defensive schematics, is a pick and pop four, pick and pop five. You can pretty much get a shot for that guy when you want to get a shot for that guy because typical normal five men aren't used to guarding some of those actions that we put Z in. And so you you can kind of find a way to get a shot for someone with Z's skill set."

Ivisic is shooting at a 44.3 percent clip from behind the three-point arc on the season while averaging 9.4 points in limited playing time due to injuries and inexperience. Since the loss of Arkansas' second leading scorer in freshman Boogie Fland to thumb surgery, Ivisic has stepped up to score in double figures in five of the last seven SEC contests. That includes a career-high 27-point and seven-rebound effort on Saturday against No. 2 ranked Alabama.

"He's got a hot hand right now," Coleman said. "He's on a heater. He's got a good feeling right now. His spirit is a lot better than what it was. And so when your mind is right, your game is right. So as long as Z has got this mind set, he's going to be playing at a confident game."

Generation Z

For his part Ivisic attributed his improved play to the basics of eating right, exercising and getting his beauty rest.

"Well, I don't know. I mean, working hard, staying consistent, staying healthy, you know, eating good, sleeping good," he said. "Everything, you know, everything combined."

Ivisc was joined in leading the winning effort by senior transfer guard Johnell Davis and sophomore transfer point guard D.J. Wagner. Davis had 11 points, three rebounds and three steals against the Tigers while Wagner continued to settle into the full-time point guard duties with a 10-point and seven-assist night.

Freshman wing Karter Knox led the team with eight rebounds and added nine points. Arkansas' leader in points and rebounds on the year, Adou Thiero, chipped in seven boards and six points.

Ivisic, Thiero, Knox and Wagner are among six current Razorbacks who followed Calipari — either as college transfers or high school recruiting commits — from his previous tenure at Kentucky. Ivisic credited his previous experience of playing with Wagner last year for the Wildcats as a contributing factor to their ability to step up in the absence of Fland, who also stayed committed to Calipari coming out of high school.

DJ Rocking The House

"He's giving energy in every practice — staying consistent," said Ivisic. "And now his hard work's paying off.

"I played I played with DJ last year, so, you know, we kind of connected. We don't even need to talk much. You We just look at each other. We know what we gotta do. I love playing with DJ. He sees everything. He wants to make everybody better — include everybody. He's doing an amazing job."

That experience and chemistry paid off as the visiting Tigers kept themselves in eyesight of a season sweep against the Razorbacks for much of the game. LSU led 35-34 at halftime and was paced by Robert Miller III with 16 points and Cam Carter's 13. Carter had a career night with 27 points in the LSU win over Arkansas in Baton Rouge.

Billy The Kid

Arkansas was able to pull out the win thanks to a 12-4 run near the mid-way mark in the second half. That's when freshman Billy Richmond III got all of his four points off of his defensive energy to help spark the Razorbacks off the bench.

"Billy just gives amazing energy every night, but we're kind of used to it," Ivisic said. "We see him every day on practices, you know, dunking, jumping, and everything that he's been doing. So when we see that on the court, we're not actually surprised because we've already seen it. "But, yeah, he's been helping a lot especially on point guard."

Richmond's defense helped contain Carter in the rematch and Coleman said his ability to step in to help at the point guard position has also played a role in helping the Razorbacks revive their postseason hopes by winning four out of their last six games in league play.

"He's (one of) our primary ball handler(s) right now, and, Billy Richmond is doing an unbelievable job," said Coleman who recruited Richmond out of high school. "He changed the game so that you guys know. Billy Richmond — his energy, his effort, everything he did in this game is what changed this game and gave us the opportunity to win. It was Billy Richmond's impact on this game. He had a unbelievable imprint on this game.

"I'm so proud of our freshman guard, Billy Richmond, but he's been, doing well. I think that, for for us to do what we're trying to do in this season, we're gonna need for DJ to lead us. He's our leader and we trust DJ. He's playing well (also).

On the Road Again

The Razorbacks will now go back on the road where they are scheduled to face a pair of top-10 ranked teams. Arkansas will visit College Station, Texas on Saturday for an 11 a.m. tip off against the No. 10 ranked Texas A&M Aggies. Then on Wednesday, Feb. 19, Arkansas will play at No. 1 ranked Auburn.

Coleman said Ivisic will need more help going forward in the paint from players like senior forward Jonas Aidoo. Aidoo, who has been held back by lingering injuries for most of the season, contributed five rebounds in the win against LSU and helped fortify Arkansas' post presence.

Much Aidoo about something

"Jonas went in bigger, stronger, and was able to take some of those baskets away from (Miller III) which we'll need the next game because Texas A&M is really big," Coleman said. "They play through their bigs, and so we're gonna need Jonas. And the fact that he has the right mindset, he's gonna be able to help us. LSU took 28 free throws down in Baton Rouge, tonight only six.

"And for a guy that's had an up and down season the way he has and dealt with injuries, how hard is it for a guy like that to stay mentally engaged when he's gone through some of the things that that Jonas has done?"

Coleman added that he's seeing signs that the All-SEC post presence Aidoo showed last season at Tennessee could finally make an appearance in Arkansas before all is said and done this season.

"Well, I want to tell you a story. Yesterday in practice, I admired him, and I was so proud of his spirit and his attitude," Coleman said of Aidoo. "I talk about spirit a lot. Like, you're not gonna be able to be a good player or help any team if your spirit is ugly and it's nasty.

"If You're like, 'Oh, forget these guys. These guys are this, and everybody's the victim.' You're playing the victim, and it's everybody else's fault. So one thing about Jonas, and I told him, I know you're gonna help us because of your spirit, because of I appreciate your attitude. He he is a guy that came into our staff and said that I know I can help this team. I wanna help this team. How can I help this team? And by him just taking that responsibility, he's going to help us. And, obviously, tonight, was a good game. We had to put him in."

No doubt, that will be the case as well in the upcoming week.