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Olivier Rioux height: Florida freshman tallest player ever in NCAA basketball game
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- Olivier Rioux height: Florida freshman tallest player ever in NCAA basketball game
Earlier this season, Florida basketball 7-9 center Olivier Rioux became the tallest player to play in an NCAA basketball game.
He broke the mark of Manut Bol, who was 7-7 and played at Division II Bridgeport.
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On Friday night, the Florida giant played in the Gators ' first round blowout win over Prairie View A&M, which gave provided a viral moment when Hassane Diallo , who is listed at 6-8, couldn't believe how tall Rioux was standing next to him.
Rioux had appeared in 10 games this season, averaging 0.5 points and 0.4 rebounds a game in 14 total minutes.
Rioux made his on-court debut Nov. 6 in the final minutes of Florida's 104-64 win over North Florida , the Gators student section began chanting for the redshirt freshman giant to enter the game and got its wish.
After a few moments, Florida coach Todd Golden simply turned to his player and gave in to the crowd.
"Todd just looked at me," Rioux said. "And I just (pretends to take shirt off) with my t-shirt."
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"It felt great. The support from everybody was amazing. Even on the bench and even with the fans. Everybody supported me. I'm very grateful."
Rioux's moment came with 2:09 left in the game, which officially made him the tallest player in college history and left the official crowd of 10,065 erupting.
"It's another day, I guess," Rioux replied, what it meant for him to own that record.
Here's a video of Olivier Rioux dunking
Does he have to jump?
How tall is Olivier Rioux?
The Florida redshirt freshman BIG man is 7 foot, 9 inches, making him the tallest player in NCAA basketball history.
Gainesville Sun reporter Andrew Abadie contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Olivier Rioux height: How tall is Florida Gators freshman big man?
