© Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Extraordinarily large human beings are not exactly rare in the world of college basketball.
Sean Bradley was a star from BYU at 7-foot-6 in the 1990s. More recently, we had Tacko Fall, also 7-foot-6, at UCF and Jamarion Sharp, 7-foot-5, at Ole Miss and Western Kentucky.
But they all fall short, literally, of 7-foot-9 Florida Gators freshman Olivier Rioux. Rioux committed to the Gators as a 7-foot-6, three-star center in the class of 2024, per 247Sports. He redshirted last season, one in which Florida won a national championship, and only continued to grow during that time.
He now stands at a jaw-dropping 7’9, and still only plays sparingly for Todd Golden’s squad. On November 21, he hit a free throw in a win against Merrimack to become the tallest player to score in NCAA history.
But on Wednesday night, Rioux broke another record.
7’9 Oliver Rioux becomes the tallest player to score a field goal in college basketball history pic.twitter.com/vWKA0grZXH
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) December 18, 2025
With a dunk late in a blowout victory over Saint Francis, Rioux became the tallest player to record a field goal in an NCAA basketball game.
Sadly, for anyone hoping to see Rioux suit up alongside Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert (and even potentially Joel Embiid) for Team France, Rioux was born and raised in Canada and played for the Canadian junior teams. However, we’re unsure if he has any eligibility for Team France via grandparents or any other familial connection. So the dream is not entirely dead.
For now, Rioux is still working his way toward being a productive player at the college level. And he has a long way to go. He’s played in just three games thus far for the Gators, and for a total of six minutes.
But should he continue to develop and grown into his gigantic frame, Olivier Rioux could well become a household name in the years to come.