Tallest Player In College Basketball History Makes Debut

Florida Gators redshirt freshman Olivier Rioux made his college basketball debut, becoming the tallest player to ever take the court at 7-foot-9.

Rioux, 19, who sat out during the entirety of the Gators' 2024-25 national championship season, entered Thursday's (November 6) game against North Florida with Florida holding a large lead with 2:09 remaining in the first half. The home crowd at Stephen C. O'Connell Center chanted "We want Ollie" before head coach Todd Golden made the record-setting move.

“I said, ‘Listen, it will happen, the time will come.’ I can be stubborn,” Golden said via the New York Post. “I don’t listen to direction very well at times, so when they’re yelling at me to do it, it’s kinda like, ‘Well, maybe I’ll wait a little longer.’”

Rioux logged two minutes during the Gators' 104-64 win, despite not tallying any statistics in his limited time. The Canadian did, however, edge out former college center Paul Sturgess, who had previously held the record at 7-foot-7.26 inches.

Rioux had previously entered the Guinness World Book of Records in 2022 as the world's tallest living male teenager. Golden gave Rioux the option to appear in a few games or use his redshirt season, which the center took the latter, during his first season on campus, having gone viral for being able to cut down the nets after the Gators' national championship win without needing a ladder.

“It’s just mental and you just keep going and you just grind, I guess,” Rioux said of his redshirt season via the New York Post.