Don’t expect towering Florida freshman Olivier Rioux to take the field for the Gators this season.
Florida coach Todd Golden said Thursday that the plan is for the 7-foot-9 freshman to redshirt in the 2024-2025 season. Rioux has not appeared in any of the Gators’ three games so far this season, although coach Todd Golden said fans have been calling for Rioux to appear at the end of the big wins.
From the Gainesville Sun:
“I should have made that clear because, honestly, it put him in a tough situation,” Golden said. “He’s sitting there at the end of the games and everyone’s yelling at him and trying to get him out, and they just didn’t understand that this was our potential plan for him.
“So that’s where we are right now. I’m not saying this will 100% be the plan. We’ll continue to talk to him and see if he, you know, changes what he wants to do, but as of right now, that’s the plan that we’ll have with him as we move forward.
Rioux holds a Guinness record for being the tallest teenager. That record came when he was also at 7-6. Since then he has grown four inches and weighs over 300 pounds. Here is a clip of him playing at the 2023 FIBA U19 Championships. Rioux is originally from Montreal and played at the IMG Academy in Florida before signing with the Gators.
When he makes his Florida debut, Rioux will be the tallest player to ever receive playing time at the highest level of college basketball. Currently, two players are tied for that honor at 7-7. Kenny George last played at UNC Asheville in 2008 and Mike Lanier played at Hardin-Simmons and UCLA in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
If you want to put Rioux’s height into perspective, he is listed at two inches taller than former Purdue center Zach Edey. The two-time Naismith winner was selected in the lottery by the Memphis Grizzlies earlier this season.
