Olivier Rioux no longer plays for the Florida Gators.
That hasn’t changed how good Florida is on the basketball court, and it wasn’t expected to — the Gators played on the opening night of the college basketball season on Monday and took on a ranked Miami team. Florida won by 10 points to open the campaign successfully while being the preseason No. 1 team in the country.
Rioux, the 7-foot-9 center, spent two seasons with Florida. His first was a redshirt year, not playing a single second as the Gators won the national title and Rioux went viral for cutting down nets while standing on the ground.
Last year, Rioux did get time for Florida, but it wasn’t much more than garbage time. The Gators didn’t feel he could help them in competitive situations.
So in the offseason, Rioux transferred. He now plays for UC-Irvine, known as the Anteaters, and they had their first game on Tuesday against Chapman University. Chapman is a Division III school, but this does count as an official regular season game for UC-Irvine — a tune-up, to be sure, but officially Rioux’s regular season debut.
Here’s how he did.
Olivier Rioux Stats
Olivier Rioux was comfortably dominant in his debut for the Anteaters.
They gave him the start, the first start of his college career.
Rioux played just 18 minutes in the blowout victory for UC-Irvine.
He shot 6-for-9 from the floor and 1-for-4 from the foul line to give him 13 points.
Rioux grabbed 12 rebounds — eight on the defensive end of the floor, four on the offensive side.
The big fella also blocked one shot, turned the ball over twice and committed one foul.
Olivier Rioux (7’9”) in his debut for UC Irvine
18 Minutes
13 Points (6/9 FG | 1/4 FT)
12 Rebounds (4 Offensive)
1 Block
2 Turnovers https://t.co/HSampobmKB— NCAA Buzzer Beaters & Game Winners (@NCAABuzzerBters) November 4, 2026
Olivier Rioux Highlights
The post below shows some of what Rioux achieved on the floor in a highlight clip — you may have to click this link to see it:
Olivier Rioux scored a double-double on his debut for UC Irvine. The Canadian transfer from Florida tallied 13 points and 12 rebounds in just 19 minutes, shooting 6-of-9 from the field with four offensive boards and one block during UC Irvine’s 92-66 season-opening win over Chapman.
Olivier is like a cheat code in the competition now, but do you know about his off-the-court story?
The Rioux family is unusually tall overall. Jean-François (Olivier’s father) is 6’8″, and Anne Gariépy (Olivier’s mother) is 6’2″. Olivier has an older brother, Émile, who is 6’9″. So, outings often drew stares. Jean-François recalled that on one particular Dairy Queen visit, the dynamic flipped for the first time: people ignored him and Émile and focused entirely on Olivier. “C’était lui qui avait toute l’attention… On n’était plus dans sa ligue!” (“It was him who had all the attention… We were no longer in his league!”), he said with amusement. That moment marked when Olivier clearly became the family’s (and the room’s) center of gravity.
Jean-François has said he worked deliberately to help his sons feel proud of their height, drawing from his own past struggles with self-esteem as a tall person. He wanted them to see it as an asset (especially through sports) rather than something to shrink from. As a kid around age 11, Olivier pushed for the Guinness World Record after noticing someone shorter listed in the book; he later became the tallest teenager (measured at 7’5″ at 15) before growing further to his current listed 7’9″.
Other low-profile details that round out the picture:
– He once won his school chess tournament (his dad noted basketball eventually took priority).
– At his meemaw’s house there was a height wall where he and his brother measured themselves, and one day Olivier simply “poof” outgrew everyone
– Because standard cars don’t work for him (he’s said he doesn’t fit in a driver’s seat and hasn’t pursued a license for that reason), he gets around campus on a custom DirtySixer bike with 36-inch wheels – the same brand that has supplied bikes to players like Shaq.— EssentiallySports (@ES_sportsnews) November 4, 2026
Florida isn’t necessarily missing Rioux, because he wasn’t a difference maker for the Gators to begin with.
But it does seem like he’ll be a quality addition to the Anteaters of UC-Irvine.
Florida’s 7-Foot-9 Olivier Rioux Makes Notable Debut at New School