7-foot-9 freshman center Olivier Rioux didn’t play on Monday night when the Florida Gators won their third national championship by defeating Houston 65-63. He didn’t play all season. Rioux spent his first year in Gainesville redshirting, but that didn’t stop him from having another viral moment after the Gators won it all in San Antonio.
Florida's 7'9" center Olivier Rioux cut down the net without a ladder again ✂️
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) April 8, 2025
(via @ArashMarkazi) pic.twitter.com/AUc0ploOib
Florida freshman Olivier Rioux doesn’t need a ladder
When Florida won the West Regional Final, defeating Texas Tech in a nailbiter, Rioux, as 7-foot-4 Purdue center and back-to-back National Player of the Year Zach Edey did last March, cut down his piece of the net from his own two feet. Then, much to the chagrin of Werner, the NCAA’s official ladder sponsor, Rioux did it again on Monday night.
Rioux has an absurdly impressive standing reach of just about 10 feet and likely doesn’t need to jump to dunk a basketball. Once the three-star center is ready to play meaningful minutes, he’ll be a natural impediment at the basket and potentially a defensive anchor. There’s no reason to project an Edey-like career for Rioux because that’s almost impossible to match, but with that much size, it’d be hard not to have an impact on a basketball game.
The fact that Golden was able to redshirt his 7-foot-9 secret weapon is a testament to how good the team he built in Gainesville is. The national champs didn’t need Rioux’s size because they had one of the deepest frontcourts in the country with Alex Condon, Rueben Chinyelu, Thomas Haugh, and Micah Handlogten.
Rioux has gone viral before, not just for the Elite Eight net-cutting video, but for his supernatural high school highlights from his career at IMG Academy, and next season he could be an important part of Florida’s title defense.
Rioux's lack of playing time this year shouldn't be a big concern for his long-term outlook. He was always viewed as a developmental piece, and Florida was such a veteran-laden roster that no freshman played for the Gators in the National Championship Game.