KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- There figures to be some trash talking in Croatian when the University of Arkansas basketball team plays Illinois on Thursday at T-Mobile Center.

Twin brothers from Vodice, Croatia -- Arkansas 7-2 sophomore forward Zvonimir Ivisic and Illinois 7-1 sophomore center Tomislav Ivisic -- will compete for different teams on the same court for the first time.

The twins are starters and should be facing each other in the opening tipoff for the 3 p.m. game televised by CBS.

"I've never played against my brother in real life," Zvonimir said Wednesday on a Zoom call. "I'm just excited. Can't wait for the game."

The twins planned to see each other Wednesday night after Illinois arrived in Kansas City.

"We talk every day on FaceTime," Zvonimir said. "Actually, we didn't talk anything about this game yet. So I'm waiting for him to arrive here, then I'm going to go see him.

"Then we're going to talk about the game -- talk trash obviously."

The trash talking should carry over to the game.

"He better be thinking, 'I'm going to kick my brother's butt,' " Arkansas associate head coach Chin Coleman said of Zvonimir's approach to the game. "They're probably going to guard each other, of course.

"There are no friends on the basketball court, so he's your brother, but your mentality should be ,'I'm going to try to beat him.'

"I'm sure (Tomislav's) mentality is the same, but it'll be fun for them. I'm sure it'll be fun for their parents."

The twin's parents, Mladenko and Marina Ivisic, will watch the game from their home in Croatia.

"They don't care who's going to win," Zvonimir said. "They just want us to play good."

Both twins have played well through six games this season in helping their teams to 5-1 records.

Zvonimir is averaging 12.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.8 blocks, while Tomislav is putting up 15.5 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.5 steals.

Zvonimir, the older of the twins having been born four minutes earlier, confirmed he is an inch taller than his brother. Tomislav is 255 pounds -- 11 pounds heavier than his brother.

Illinois lists Tomislav as a center and Arkansas lists Zvonimir as a forward.

"Z's brother is a different body type, about 10 pounds heavier," Coleman said. "He plays a lot with his back to the basket, although he can step out and take and make threes.

"He's capable from there, but I think that Z can move a little bit better and is a little bit better athlete.

"Z has a little bit different skill set in terms of his ability to shoot the ball, pass it, dribble it and do some other things.

"But they both are good passers, right, not to take away from his brother. The other thing that's different for them is one of them is left-handed, one is right-handed."

Zvonimir, who is right-handed, is shooting 56.5% on three-pointers (13 of 23) while his left-handed brother is shooting 28% (7 of 25).

Arkansas freshman forwards Billy Richmond and Karter Knox said they're looking forward to seeing the twins compete.

"I think it's going to be a good rivalry between those two," Richmond said. "Z talks smack about his brother sometimes, but (it's) a little friendly battle."

Zvonimir is in his second season playing college basketball in the United States. He played as a freshman at Kentucky last season, then followed new Razorbacks Coach Coach Calipari -- the Wildcats' coach the previous 15 years -- to Arkansas.

Tomislav is in his first college season in the U.S., though he is listed as a sophomore as part of an agreement with the NCAA after he was declared eligible to play at Illinois.

The twins, 21, previously played together for SC Derby in Podgorica, Montenegro, a member of the Adriatic League First Division. They also were members of the Croatian National Team at both the youth and senior levels and teammates with Sibenka, a club team.

"I would say (Zvonimir) is the reason I decided to come here, because I've heard only good things about college basketball, and he really loved it at Kentucky," Tomislav told reporters in Illinois earlier this year. "Now, he's at Arkansas and he loves it there.

"He was talking about the fans, about the culture, about the away games, about how fans love basketball here, and that's what I love.

"He taught me all the best about basketball here."

Zvonimir said he knew coming to the U.S. would be good for his brother.

"After I came here and I saw everything, what college basketball has to offer, I just told him, 'You have to come. You need to come. It would be great for you to work this way,' " Zvonimir said.

Zvonimir's time at Kentucky also played a role in his brother signing to play for the Fighting Illini.

Illinois assistant Orlando Antigua was at Kentucky last season, and Zvonimir was able to give a good recommendation to his brother.

"When he told me about (being recruited by) Illinois, I just told him, 'Yeah, a coach from last year that was with me is now there,' " Zvonimir said. " 'He's a pretty good coach, pretty good guy. He's going to take care of you.'

"It was on him to decide, but I think it was good that (Antigua) was my coach. It's easier when you know someone."

Zvonimir said it would have been cool to continue to be a teammate with his brother at a U.S. college, but that they ended up going their separate ways because most teams wouldn't want to have a pair of 7-footers on their roster with similar skills.

"We were thinking that we almost play the same position, so it would be hard to play at the same club when we get older," Zvonimir said. "(We knew) we wouldn't be together at some point."

Zvonimir said the Arkansas-Illinois game will be the first time the twins have gone against each other in "a real game."

"We would play against each other in practice," he said. "But that's not a real game."

The twins had some competitive 1-on-1 games growing up.

"When we were kids, we were playing every day, playing 1-on-1, just shooting or whatever," Zvonimir said. "Just having fun. I was good. I was beating his ass every time."

Tomislav offered a different version of their 1-on-1 games.

"Sometimes he'd win, sometimes I'd win," Tomislav told reporters before Illinois practiced on Wednesday. "If you ask me I'm better, if you ask him he's better.

"We'll see in the game. We'll both be ready and the best team is going to win."

When the twins were 10 or 11, Zvonimir said, they focused on playing soccer for about a year instead of basketball.

"But after we couldn't find the right shoe size for soccer, we had to switch sports," Zvonimir said. "And then when we came back (to basketball) we knew it, yeah, that was it.

"This is what we're going to do for the rest of our lives."

Tomislav was asked about the twins' personalities.

"I'm more introverted," he said Wednesday. "Zvonimir is an extrovert. He's more social. He's funnier. He's crazy."

Tomislav was cleared by the NCAA in late October to be eligible to play for Illinois. Zvonimir wasn't cleared to play at Kentucky until last January and was limited to 15 games last season.

"I was really happy for him," Zvonimir said of his brother not having to wait to play at Illinois. "I wouldn't wish anybody to go through that stuff that I did. He was cleared quickly, which is a great thing."

Tomislav said the twins always have had each other's back.

"We've supported each other our whole lives," Tomislav said Wednesday. "I've helped him and he's helped me a lot."