Florida basketball is one win away from clinching its spot in the Final Four of the men's NCAA Tournament.
Standing in the way of that is No. 3 seed Texas Tech, whom the top-seeded Gators will meet up against at 6:09 p.m. ET on Saturday in the Elite Eight of the West Region. A win on Saturday would give the Gators their second net-cutting of the season, as they've also cut the nets down once this year after winning the men's SEC tournament.
Should that happen, one player won't need to use a ladder to cut down the nets and celebrate a ticket punched to San Antonio: freshman forward Olivier Rioux.
The Canadian forward, who is redshirting this season, is a hard miss on the Gators bench during games — quite literally, as he is not just one of the tallest players on Florida's roster, but the entire country.
So, how tall is Rioux? Here's what you need to know about his height and more ahead of Saturday's Elite Eight game:
How tall is Olivier Rioux? Florida forward's height
Rioux is listed at 7-foot-9 on Florida's official — five inches taller than former Purdue forward Zach Edey. Per an ESPN story from November, Rioux is the tallest player in men's college basketball history.
As noted on his Florida profile page, Rioux holds a Guinness World Record for the tallest teenager. He was 6-foot-1 at 8 years old, 6-foot-11 by sixth grade and then reached over 7 feet tall going into seventh grade.
Here's a look at Rioux warming up ahead of one of Florida's games in December:
7’9” freshman Olivier Rioux warming up 😳🤯
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 5, 2024
(via @osgators) pic.twitter.com/6sVxDnfOwN
But to give a visual of how tall Rioux is compared to others on the court, here's a side-by-side photo of him meeting Turner Sports' Stan Van Gundy ahead of the Gators' Sweet 16 game vs. Arkansas:
Pregame: Stan Van Gundy with 7-foot-9 Florida freshman Olivier Rioux. pic.twitter.com/3UVHDZh9i1
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell)Save Story Topics in this Story
