​The dog days of summer have earned their nickname for good reason. The blend of conditioning sessions, practices, strength work, and the heat can quickly become a tedious grind, especially with months still left before the men’s college basketball season begins. For Andrija Jelavic, now entering his second year in college basketball, that grind is a new experience in a sense—this time, it’s his first full summer in the college game at Ohio State after transferring from Kentucky.
Last year at this time, Jelavic was back in his homeland of Croatia, wrapping up his schooling and sorting out when he could actually enroll and begin practicing at the University of Kentucky. The enrollment timeline wasn’t settled until the fall, so he arrived into the Kentucky program with only a partial summer behind him. Now with a year under his belt at Ohio State after spending a year with the Wildcats, Jelavic has a clearer sense of what he missed out on a year ago and how that gap affected his season in Lexington.
He captured this sentiment during a June 30, 2026 practice at the Schottenstein Center, when he noted, “This is my first summer of college basketball.” After a July 9 practice, the sophomore forward reflected on how much being present and working through the summer has helped him. “When I was late at Kentucky I didn’t feel like I was missing a lot, but being here for a month already I feel like it helps you a lot to be here. Now I understand that I missed a lot by not being there in the summer at Kentucky.”
In Kentucky’s case, Jelavic wasn’t able to begin practicing until late August. Once the season started, he spent the first two months as a rotation player, briefly fell out of the rotation, and then was thrust back into the starting lineup for the final 20 games. He described the season as “pretty challenging” and called his situation “a little bit weird,” noting that he primarily played power forward while averaging 5.5 points and 4.0 rebounds in 15.6 minutes per game.
With the added possibility of playing center in addition to power forward, the 6-foot-11, 240-pound Jelavic has embraced his role as a change-of-pace center for the Buckeyes, a role that sets up a contrast with teammates such as Ivan Njegovan (7-2, 260) and Josh Ojianwuna. He says he’s enjoying the sense of stability he’s finding in Columbus and using last season’s experiences as fuel to improve. “It drives me a lot,” Jelavic said. “I think I’m a much, much better player than I showed last year at Kentucky. There were factors I couldn’t control, but that motivates me to prove myself this year at Ohio State.”
The summer disruption that affected Jelavic wasn’t unique to him. Ohio State faced a similar challenge with the arrival of Mathieu Grujičić, a standout scorer from Germany’s youth national teams who could watch Buckeye practices but couldn’t participate until fall workouts began. Grujičić never fully integrated and appeared in only six games for Ohio State before transferring to Radford. For Jelavic, the experience has reinforced the idea that time on the floor and in practice matters, and he has embraced his role as a versatile big man who can stretch the floor and anchor the defense.
As Jelavic continues to acclimate, he’s looking to translate what he learned last season into tangible improvements for the Buckeyes. The summer’s absence will no longer be an excuse. He’s determined to demonstrate that the time he spent working this summer is paying off—both for his personal growth and for the team’s success. The path ahead is clear: use the lessons from Kentucky, apply them in Columbus, and prove that he belongs among Ohio State’s best contributors by the time the season tips off.