Florida Gators center Rueben Chinyelu withdrew his name from the NBA Draft and plans to return to Florida, per Swamp 247. Chinyelu returns with two years of eligibility remaining.
The Enugu Agidi, Nigeria, native declared for the NBA Draft April 17 after spending one season at Florida. Chinyelu averaged 6 points, 6.6 rebounds and shot nearly 60% from the field. He was one of the biggest factors in Florida’s defense, which finished ranked No. 6 nationally, per KenPom rankings.
“He’s just a high achieving guy, he’s not going to do anything half-hearted,” said Florida head coach Todd Golden ahead of the 2024-25 season. “He’s going to be disappointed if he’s not winning. And again, like you stack enough of those competitive guys in a program, good things are gonna happen.”
Chinyelu’s most impressive performance came against the Louisiana State Tigers Feb. 24. The rising junior scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in Florida’s 79-65 victory.
“I thought he did a great job of playing with poise,” Golden said. “He's just become and continues to grow into a very, very nice player for us.”
Chinyelu will return to an experienced front court with senior center Micah Handlogten, junior forward Thomas Haugh and junior transfer center AJ Brown. Gators sophomore forward Alex Condon, who is currently in the NBA Draft process, hasn’t ruled out returning to Florida.
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).
