Zisis Sarikopoulos transferred to Ohio State after he played last season at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. He will sit out the 2008-09 season to satisfy NCAA transfer rules and will have three seasons of eligibility beginning with the 2009-10 season.
In eight games at the U18 European Championships last August, Sarikopoulos averaged 10.3 points, 9.4 points while blocking a total of 18 shots to help Greece to the gold medal, its first in the event. Greece defeated Lithuania in the title game, 57-50. Sarikopoulos scored eight points, grabbed 10 boards and blocked five shots in the championship game. 
A native of Athens, Greece, Sarikopoulous appeared in 20 games as a rookie at UAB. He started four games, averaged 1.8 points and 1.1 rebounds for the Blazers, who finished with a 23-11 record in 2007-08.
Before traveling to the United States in August 2007 to join the UAB program, Sarikopoulos led the Under-18 Greek national team to a second-place finish in the 2007 Euro Championships and helped club team Olympiakos B.C. to a second-place finish in the country. He averaged nearly 20 points and 16 rebounds per game, all team highs for Olympiakos. He also averaged 7.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.1 steals per contest for Greece in the Under-18 European Championships.
Prior to joining the UAB squad, his only other appearance in the United States came earlier in 2007, when Michael Jordan selected Sarikopoulos as the MVP of Greece, inviting him to compete at the Jordan Brand All-American Classic in New York City. Sarikopoulos joined a dozen other international stars as representatives of some of the top basketball players in their respective countries.