Andrija Jelavić arrives in Lexington, rest of Kentucky’s roster expected to return this week

After joining Mark Pope in Cincinnati for some tennis on Saturday, Kentucky forward Andrija Jelavić has officially made his way to UK’s campus.

Jelavić posted a couple of photos to his Instagram Story on Sunday night, one of the Joe Craft Center practice gym and another of his locker with his No. 4 jersey above it, confirming that the Croatian big man is cleared and ready to join the Wildcats. And the timing works out nicely, too — the rest of Jelavić’s teammates are expected to join him this coming week after being away from Lexington for a quick mid-summer break.

KSR’s Jack Pilgrim previously reported that Jelavić was expected to arrive at UK a few days before his teammates in order to begin the testing and conditioning process. The 6-foot-9 freshman will start behind the eight ball after missing the first eight weeks of summer practice. Kentucky will fully ramp up practice once again beginning in September after UK’s fall semester begins Monday, August 25.

Despite technically being labeled a freshman, Jelavić will enter his college basketball career with a couple of years of pro experience already under his belt. He spent the last two years as a member of Mega Superbet, which plays at the highest level of competition in Serbia. The 21-year-old averaged 10.7 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 27.5 minutes per outing last season while shooting 48.5 percent from the field and 30.5 percent from deep.

“We have high, high hopes for him,” Pope said of Jelavić this week on the Eye on College Basketball with Matt Norlander.

With Jelavić officially in the fold, Kentucky’s 2025-26 roster is one Jayden Quaintance healthy knee away from being whole.

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