New video of 7-foot-9 Olivier Rioux practicing with Florida teammates goes viral
· New York PostOlivier Rioux has arrived.
Not seeing him? Look up.
Even Florida’s 7-foot-1 incumbent center, Micah Handlogten, has to.
Rioux, the 7-foot-9 teenager (teenager!), was spotted working through the lay-up line with his new Florida Gators teammates in a video posted Tuesday.
Trotting to the back of the line, Rioux dished high-fives right, then left, then, for Handlogten, up high.
Handlogten, a sophomore, got some good air time on the two-handed connection. Luckily for him, this wasn’t a rebounding drill.
Rioux, formerly crowned World’s Tallest Teen by Guinness Records — age: 16, height: 7-foot-5 —committed to the Gators during his senior year at IMG Academy.
He thinks it’s in the genes.
“We’re still not 100% sure why I’m so tall … doctors could only explain it with the genetics that my family has,” Rioux said in an interview with Guiness.
The Canadian-born true freshman’s mother, a former volleyball player, stands at 6-foot-1. Rioux’s father measures up to 6-foot-8. And his brother, a former hooper himself, stands at 6-foot-9.
Turning heads is nothing new for Rioux, a three-star prospect per 247sports.
The center helped Canada to the bronze medal at the 2024 U18 FIBA AmeriCup— averaging 4.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
When Rioux suits up for Florida this fall, he’ll officially become the tallest college basketball player in history — handedly.
The 7-foot-7 previous record-holders, Kenny George and Mike Lanier, were never able to crack NBA rosters. And if Rioux makes it to the league, he can add “tallest NBA player” in history to his resume, too.
For now though, the focus remains on Gators’ basketball.
Florida opens its season in a little more than a month at the Jacksonville Sports Foundation Invitational against South Florida on Nov. 4.
Rioux likely sits behind Handlogten on Florida’s center depth chart, the latter having started 32 of the Gators’ 33 games during the 2023-24 campaign.
Then again, you can’t teach reach.