GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Olivier Rioux, the world’s tallest teenager at 7-foot-9, will likely redshirt his freshman season for the Florida Gators basketball program, head coach Todd Golden announced Thursday.
Rioux hasn’t played in any of the Gators’ first three games of the 2024-25 NCAA season, all of which have been wins for UF. Under NCAA rules, Rioux would automatically lose redshirt eligibility if he were to play in any game this season. By “redshirting” this season, Rioux won’t be allowed to appear in any games this season but can continue to practice with the Gators while preserving his four years of NCAA playing eligibility.
“I should have made that clear (before),” Golden said Thursday. “Honestly, it’s put him in a tough situation. He’s sitting over there at the end of games and everybody’s yelling at him and trying to get him out there. They just hadn’t understood that (redshirting) was our potential plan for him.
“So that’s where we’re at at this moment. I’m not saying that’s 100% going to be the plan. We’ll continue to talk to him and see if he changes what he wants to do. But as of right now, that’s the plan that we’re going to have with him as we move forward,” he added.
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Rioux, a native of Terrebonne, Quebec, Canada, played high school basketball at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, before committing to the University of Florida in November 2023. The three-star recruit was previously named by Guinness World Records as the “World’s Tallest Teen” – and that was at age 16 and 7-foot-5. Rioux has grown four inches in the two years since then.
Florida fans chanted “Oli” towards the end of the Gators’ 86-62 home win over Grambling State on Monday, in hopes of seeing the 7-foot-9 freshman, but to no avail. Golden said he spoke with Rioux near the end of the game to explain his reasoning for not playing him late in the blowout victory.
“I was just explaining to him, ‘Hey, the reason why I’m not putting you in right now is what we’ve talked about a little bit,’” Golden said. “This wasn’t a choice that I made for him. This is something that people (from) our program have talked with him and his family and his parents, his AAU coach and just kind of trying to figure out what the best route for him is.
“I just went up to him, and I was like, ‘Hey, I’m not trying to be disrespectful with you. I’m just not trying to burn your year putting you in for 30 seconds,’” he added.
