Florida 7-9 freshman big Olivier Rioux cuts down net without ladder following SEC title win

Cutting the nets is a long-time tradition for teams after winning championships. It’s just easier for some of us, though, than others.

With an 86-77 win over Tennessee on Sunday, Florida won the 2025 SEC Tournament in Nashville. The Gators cut down the nets inside Bridgestone Arena postgame and among them was Olivier Rioux, the 7’9″ freshman center, who didn’t need any help reaching up to take his piece.

7'9" freshman Olivier Rioux didn't need a ladder to cut the net 😂 @GatorsMBK pic.twitter.com/UW2sEZUfZP

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) March 16, 2025

Rioux, the holder of the Guinness World Record for tallest teenager ever who was over six-feet tall as a kid and over seven-feet tall by middle school, has not appeared in a game this season for the Gators. That’s with him as a preferred walk-on who is redshirting this year to best develop for his college career in Gainesville.

That’s after Rioux, a native of Montreal, played high school basketball three hours south at IMG Academy. He was, per On3’s 2024 Industry Rankings, a three-star prospect there as a Top-300 recruit, a Top-50 center, and a Top-30 player out of the state.

Rioux also has participated in several international events for Team Canada. That includes appearances in the U16 Americas Championship in 2021, the U17 World Cup in 2022, the U19 World Cup in 2023, and U18 FIBA AmeriCups in 2023 and 2024.

While in Music City this weekend, the Gators earned wins over Missouri (95-81), Alabama (104-82), and Tennessee (86-77) to win the SEC Tournament. That is their first conference tournament title in just over a decade since 2014. It also has Florida sitting at 30-4 overall now going into Selection Sunday as they’re expected to be the fourth and final of the No. 1 seeds in the bracket.

This is just an incredible thing to see, especially after every other member of the team climbed up the ladder to get their cut of the net. It might not be the last team we see Rioux do it either depending on how Florida does over the next three weeks in the NCAA Tournament.

Florida defeats Tennessee in SEC Tournament

Entering Sunday’s championship in the SEC Tournament, Florida had an opportunity to continue its strong argument for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. And, with their victory over Tennessee, the Gators did just that.

UF led 39-30 at halftime of Sunday’s game and didn’t look back in the second half, eventually sealing the 86-77 win over Tennessee. The Gators got strong performances out of Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard to fuel the effort and respond to punches the Volunteers threw down the stretch.

Tennessee took an early lead in the first half but it was all Florida from there. The Gators went into halftime ahead 39-30, and saw their advantage grow to 60-47 at one point in the second half. After continuing to go back-and-forth, Florida has their lead grow to 16 – its largest of the game. The Gators closed it out from there for their first title in the SEC Tournament since 2014. Clayton led the way with 22 points while Will Richard added 17. Alex Condon had 13 and Thomas Haugh had 11 as well.

In the process, Florida helped make its case to be on the one-seed line in the NCAA Tournament. The game finished just hours before the Selection Show with the No. 4 overall seed very much in play for them.