Following a great finish to his first full Division I men’s basketball season, Stefan Cicic needed another new start. The 2024 Riverside Brookfield High School graduate has transferred to the University of Mississippi (Oxford) after the coaching staff was fired following this past season playing at Pepperdine University (Malibu, Calif.).
The 7-foot center and redshirt sophomore spent his first college season at Tulane University (New Orleans). Cicic now joins a member of the prestigious South Eastern Conference (SEC), led by head coach Chris Beard, who is entering his fourth season with the Rebels, a 2025 NCAA Sweet 16 tournament team.
Since 2016, Beard has taken four programs to the NCAA Tournament and reached the 2019 national final and 2018 Elite Eight while at Texas Tech.
“I was talking to other schools, but Chris Beard is a really good coach, one of the best coaches in the nation. He’s a really good coach, very good dude, very chill and the rest of the staff was very nice,” Cicic said. “On my visit, I had a fun time. Oxford’s a beautiful town, a college town. Ole Miss has a lot of history with sports and the SEC, I think, is one of the best conferences for basketball, if not the best, with its physicality and toughness.”
At Pepperdine, Cicic started the final five games and over the final seven games averaged more than 20 minutes, 11.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.4 blocks.
This past season, Ole Miss was 15-20 (4-14 in SEC) but made history by reaching the SEC Tournament semifinals before losing to Arkansas in overtime. It marked the first time any Division I team seeded No. 15 reached the semifinals of its conference tournament.
“With my size and presence and abilities, I felt it was a really great fit for me to play at this level and this staff and coach and team,” Cicic said. “I’m just excited and grateful to be there.”
Cicic gained confidence through playing in all 32 Pepperdine games. Cicic achieved personal-bests of 23 points and 10 rebounds with four blocks in the 88-79 win over Washington State, Feb. 28, and had the game-winning basket on a putback dunk in the 90-89 victory over Loyola Marymount, Feb. 14.
His season averages were 4.5 points with 3 three-pointers and 2.6 rebounds with a team-high 27 blocked shots, 11 assists and eight steals in 12.4 minutes.
The Waves finished 9-23 (4-14 in West Coast Conference) after going 13-22 in former head coach Ed Schilling’s first season.
“My goal is to obviously win way more games with this (Ole Miss) team and overall just to become a better player and also be coached by one of the best coaches in college basketball,” Cicic said. “Chris Beard and the staff was the main reason why I came.”
Cicic has three years of college eligibility left. As a true freshman, the two-time all-stater at RBHS attended Tulane but was able to redshirt after playing just four minutes total over three November games.
Another new experience awaits Cicic this week. Ole Miss is headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico for a six-day tour beginning Saturday, Aug. 2, which includes two exhibition contests.
Final details weren’t announced to the players until Cicic was at summer training camp in early June. It’ll be Cicic’s first taste of international basketball.
“I knew before, during my visit. They said they might be doing a foreign trip. I didn’t know where,” Cicic said. “Puerto Rico seems and sounds interesting.”