Why Florida’s 7-foot-9 Olivier Rioux doesn’t play more for Gators basketball team originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Florida has a 7-foot-9 player on its men’s basketball team, Olivier Rioux.
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You can’t teach height, but despite Rioux being the tallest player to ever score in a college basketball game, he rarely plays for the Gators.
Each time Florida is on a big-time broadcast, Rioux draws attention. He’s huge.
But the attention has to keep watching the bench to see what the lanky Rioux is up to.
Why doesn’t Florida’s 7-foot-9 Olivier Rioux play more for Gators?
Rioux simply isn’t ready to play big minutes in Division I college basketball.
He’s got the length, but he doesn’t quite have enough strength or skill.
He redshirted his first year on campus, 2024-25, as the Gators won the national championship. He gained attention for cutting down his piece of the net while simply standing on the floor.
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This season, Rioux has played in just five games.
Total, he has 10 minutes. He has scored one basket from the floor on his only attempt, and he has gone 1-for-2 at the foul line.
Rioux also has two defensive rebounds, one turnover, and two fouls.
It doesn’t seem that likely that he ever breaks through at Florida given his usage through a couple seasons.
Maybe a transfer to a smaller program could allow the historically tall Rioux to get on the floor more.
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