With less than 50 seconds left in Florida’s eventual 102-61 victory over Saint Francis, a late two-handed dunk put the Gators up 43 points. But as shown by the roaring ovation from the Gainesville crowd, the basket was far from meaningless, as it was 7-foot-9 freshman center Olivier Rioux’s first collegiate field goal.
YEAHHHH OLLIE 🤯🫨
📺 SECN pic.twitter.com/TQaS5PjoDa
— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) December 18, 2025
Rioux made history last month as the tallest player in college basketball history when he logged two minutes against North Florida on Nov. 6. He made a second appearance on Nov. 21, playing three minutes against Merrimack and scoring his first career point on a free throw.
But Wednesday night marked the moment Gator fans have been clamoring for all year with their “We want Ollie” chants down the stretch of blowouts. Against St. Francis, coach Todd Golden obliged, and Rioux delivered.
In a half-court set with under a minute to play, Rioux cut to the basket as freshman guard CJ Ingram fired a bounce pass into his hands, and Rioux strode down the lane for the slam, sending the Gators’ bench and fans into a frenzy.
Ollie’s dunk reaction gets better the more faces you look at 🤣 pic.twitter.com/E7XwVpGTzL
— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) December 18, 2025
The Montreal native is the world’s tallest teenager, and stands three inches taller than former Houston Rockets great Yao Ming and former UCF star Tacko Fall.
Including Wednesday, Rioux has played just seven minutes this season, as he sits behind a loaded frontcourt in Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh, Rueben Chinyelu and Micah Handlogten. All four big men were key contributors on the national championship team last season.
Golden said after Rioux’s debut in November that “two, three minutes was the most he can go right now without getting fatigued.”