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Not typically does a 6-foot-8 basketball participant look small on the court docket, however the tallest college basketball player ever towered over one such participant Friday night time.
Florida’s Olivier Rioux entered the sport late in the staff’s dominant 114-55 win over No. 16 Prairie View A&M at Benchmark International Arena, and, at 7-foot-9, he floored his opponents together with his peak.
Prairie View A&M ahead Hassane Diallo, who stands at 6-foot-8, a full foot shorter than Rioux, went viral for sizing up the towering 20-year-old as he entered the sport. Rioux was the world’s tallest teenager earlier than his birthday final month.
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Florida Gators middle Olivier Rioux (32) and Prairie View A&M Panthers ahead Hassane Diallo (11) throughout a first-round sport of the boys’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Fla., March 20, 2026. (Matt Pendleton/Imagn Images)
Rioux has performed sparingly all year long as he continues to develop however has develop into a fan favourite in brief order. Whenever the Gators are up massive late in video games, the Florida crowd chants Rioux’s identify at head coach Todd Golden, hoping to see the tall middle in motion.
Rioux despatched the gang right into a frenzy when he checked into the sport with about two minutes left. He despatched them into even additional hysteria when he slammed house a put-back dunk for his first profession NCAA event factors as followers chanted “Oli! Oli!”
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Florida Gators middle Olivier Rioux (32) dunks the ball in the second half in opposition to the Prairie View A&M Panthers throughout a first-round sport of the boys’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Fla., March 20, 2026. (Nathan Ray Seebeck/Imagn Images)
Florida’s victory was historic, the 59-point margin of victory the second-largest in NCAA event historical past.
Prairie View A&M was down 30 factors when head coach Byron Smith was requested by the TNT broadcast throughout a midgame interview what it could take to decelerate Florida.
“We need some help from the Lord,” Smith replied.
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Florida Gators middle Olivier Rioux (32) in the course of the second half in opposition to the Prairie View A&M Panthers throughout a first-round sport of the boys’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Fla., March 20, 2026. (Nathan Ray Seebeck/Imagn Images)
Prairie View A&M didn’t get any assist from above, and the defending champions steamrolled their approach into the second spherical.
No. 1 Florida will play No. 9 Iowa Sunday at 7:10 p.m. ET, and Gator followers hope for an additional probability to see Rioux in motion.
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