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The tallest player in college basketball has a new home. Former Florida<\/a> 7-foot-9 center Olivier Rioux<\/a> committed to UC Irvine<\/a> on Thursday after spending the last two seasons with Florida, he announced on social media.<\/a><\/p>\n Rioux, who was a preferred walk-on with Florida, appeared in 11 games during the 2025-26 season. He made history earlier this season by becoming the tallest player in college basketball history — at any level — to score a basket. He threw down a two-handed flush in Florida’s blowout win over Saint Francis<\/a> early in the season.<\/p>\n As a deep bench reserve for the Gators, Rioux logged just 16 total minutes in those 11 games. Florida’s elite frontcourt depth, headlined by Alex Condon<\/a>, Thomas Haugh<\/a> and Rueben Chinyelu<\/a>, made the path to real playing time tough. Rioux redshirted during Florida’s national title run last season and didn’t appear in a game.\u00a0<\/p>\n Condon and Haugh already announced their return to Florida for next season, while Chinyelu is going through the NBA Draft<\/a> process before deciding on a return to school. The Gators could very well open this season as the preseason No. 1 team, and with those players returning, the path to real playing time for Rioux was slim.<\/p>\n In 2021, Guinness World Records declared Rioux the tallest teenager in the world at 7-foot-5. When he checked in against North Florida<\/a> earlier this season,\u00a0he became the tallest college basketball player ever to appear in a game.<\/a>\u00a0To give context on how tall Rioux actually is, he\u00a0didn’t even need a ladder\u00a0<\/a>to cut down the nets when Florida beat Texas Tech<\/a> in the Elite Eight last season.<\/p>\n Rioux will join a UC Irvine squad that finished the 2025-26 campaign 23-12 overall, which included a 75-72 loss to UNLV<\/a> in the first round of the NIT. The Anteaters have reached the NCAA Tournament twice (2015 and 2019) since the turn of the century.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n