Gators Center Olivier Rioux Makes College Basketball History... Again

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- While the Florida Gators walked away with their fourth straight win of the season, the more notable storyline was center Olivier Rioux scoring his first career point as a Gator. Rioux made one of his two free throws in the game with 1:24 left. 

Rioux, earlier this year, GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- While the in Division One college basketball history to ever play in a game, standing at 7-foot-9. He also holds the Guinness World Record for being the world’s tallest teenager. 

With his made free throw, he now becomes the tallest basketball player to ever score in a Division One college basketball game. His point capped off an 80-45 Olivier Rioux, the world’s tallest teenager, makes his over Merrimack.

"I thought he did a good job getting to the foul line, really proud that he made one," head coach Todd Golden said. "There wasn't a lot there, probably five possessions, but he did the best he could do in those minutes."

A native of Quebec, Canada, Rioux made his Gators debut this season against North Florida back on Nov. 6. He played just a little over two minutes in this contest. 

His introduction into the game versus North Florida sent the crowd into a frenzy. The Rowdy Reptiles student section had been emphatically cheering “Ollie! Ollie! Ollie!” leading up to the final minutes, and got what they asked for with 2:09 remaining. 

He said after his Gators debut that while he notices the attention, it is nothing new for him. 

“It’s another day, I guess,” he said. 

Then, the same thing happened on Friday against Merrimack. With the Gators building an insurmountable lead, the Rowdy Reptiles' voices got back to work, shouting for Golden to put him in, and the head coach finally gave into the crowd’s demands near the two-minute mark. 

It did not take Rioux long to get into the action, either. Florida immediately tried feeding the ball to him, but was unable to on the first possession he was in for. 

However, his teammates successfully put the ball in his hands on the second time down the floor. 

After receiving the ball, he was fouled by the Merrimack defender. Rioux worried the crowd by missing the first attempt. Although he missed the first, he sank the second free throw for his first points of his career to cap off the win. 

“Oh, it was really fun," center Olivier Rioux said. "Just being able to practice with him, how he's been progressing from last year, working really hard, doing what he can just to stay fit and make sure that he's available to go in there and do what he do, so I'm just so happy just to see him out there." 

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