Florida 7-foot-9 center Olivier Rioux earned a spot on Canada’s FIBA U19 World Cup team, marking his fifth consecutive summer representing Canada.
The Montreal native previously participated in FIBA's 2024 U18 Americas Championship, 2023 U19 Basketball World Cup, 2022 U17 Basketball World Cup and 2021 U16 Americas Championship.
Over 24 international appearances, Rioux averaged 4.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. He earned bronze in the 2024 FIBA U18 Americas Championship and 2021 FIBA U16 Americas Championship.
The tournament will take place over an eight-day period and 16 teams are set to compete. It will feature three games in group play with all 16 teams then seeded for knockout play.
Canada will tip off its tournament against China at 8 a.m. ET Saturday. Then, it will follow up with matches against Slovenia at 5:15 a.m. ET Sunday and Germany at 8:30 a.m. ET Monday.
Rioux arrived at Florida last summer after playing his senior year of high school at IMG Academy. He was dubbed The World’s Tallest Teenager by Guinness World Records.
“When [Rioux] showed interest in coming here as a preferred walk-on, it was kind of a no-brainer for us,” head coach Todd Golden said before the 2024-25 season. “It's a low risk, high reward opportunity for everybody.”
Rioux redshirted his first season and is set to begin the 2025-26 season as a redshirt freshman. The Gators will tip off its regular season against the Arizona Wildcats Nov. 3 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Contact Luke Adragna at ladragna@alligator.org. Follow him on X @lukeadrag.
Luke Adragna is working his fifth semester at The Alligator and returns as the Summer 2025 assistant sports editor. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with his cat Pete and researching niche professional athletes (shoutout Jacquizz Rodgers).
