Andrija Jelavic committed to Ohio State on Friday, giving the Buckeyes their second transfer commitment of the day and another big body for a frontcourt that has been moving quickly in the offseason. Jonathan Givony reported the move, which sent the former Kentucky forward to Columbus after one season in Lexington.
Jelavić, a 6-foot-11, 225-pound forward, played in 32 games with 18 starts at Kentucky and averaged 5.5 points and 4.0 rebounds in 16 minutes per game. He shot 67.5% from the field and made 21 of 76 three-point attempts, numbers that help explain why Ohio State continued to lean into size and shooting when it added him and Justin Pippen on the same day. Jelavić and Pippen were the Buckeyes’ first two transfer additions of the offseason.
The new Ohio State addition arrived in college with a far different path than most transfer forwards. Before Kentucky, Jelavić spent two seasons playing professionally in the ABA League, where he averaged 10.3 points and 7.6 rebounds per game in his first season and 11 points and 7.4 rebounds per contest in his second. That pro experience gives Ohio State a player who has already spent time against older competition, and it comes as the Buckeyes try to rebuild around a frontcourt that now includes Amare Bynum, Josh Ojianwuna and Ivan Njegovan.
The Croatian connection also keeps growing. Ohio State’s frontcourt now features two Croatians, with Jelavić joining Njegovan as one of the program’s two players from Croatia. That detail may matter as much as the raw numbers, because the Buckeyes were expected to add four or five total transfers and have already used Friday to land two of them.
The fit is straightforward enough to read on the roster sheet, but it still leaves Ohio State with the same question most programs face at this stage: how much of this new size can translate quickly once the games start? Jelavić has already shown he can score efficiently and rebound against strong competition. What comes next is whether that production carries into a bigger role in the Big Ten, where the Buckeyes will need more than depth to make the move pay off.
