Florida Gators redshirt freshman Olivier Rioux made his college basketball debut, becoming the tallest player to ever take the court at 7-foot-9.

Rioux, 19, who sat out during the entirety of the Gators' 2024-25 national championship season, entered Thursday's (November 6) game against North Florida with Florida holding a large lead with 2:09 remaining in the first half. The home crowd at Stephen C. O'Connell Center chanted "We want Ollie" before head coach Todd Golden made the record-setting move.

“I said, ‘Listen, it will happen, the time will come.’ I can be stubborn,” Golden said via the New York Post . “I don’t listen to direction very well at times, so when they’re yelling at me to do it, it’s kinda like, ‘Well, maybe I’ll wait a little longer.’”

Rioux logged two minute

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