Florida freshman basketball player Olivier Rioux surprises NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal

On By Littum

Shaquille O’Neal is a mammoth of a man. Still, he found his match and then some over the weekend when he met 7-foot-9 Florida basketball freshman Olivier Rioux.

It’s not often when Big Diesel has to look up.

Shaquille O’Neal is a mammoth of a man. 7-foot-1, 325 pounds. Still, he has some competition on Florida’s basketball roster from Olivier Rioux.

The Gators freshman is a hulking 7-foot-9. He met Shaq over the weekend and the moment was caught on video.

In a video Shaq posted on his TikTok, he is seen arguing with a much shorter person. Then he turns and his head reaches Rioux’s chest. Shaq then looks stunned at the camera and starts laughing.

According to his biography on floridagators.com, the Guinness Book of World Records named Rioux the tallest teenager. He stood 6-foot-1 at age 8, 6-foot-11 in sixth grade and crossed the 7-foot mark the summer before entering seventh grade.

A Quebec native, Rioux attended the IMG Academy and played some international events for Team Canada. Rivals, On3 and 247 rated him a three-star prospect. He redshirted this season.

Shaq, of course, has connections to UF. His daughter, Me’arah, is a freshman on the Florida women’s basketball team. He served as Grand Marshall for the Very GNV Holiday Parade on Dec. 7 and attended the Gators’ victory over Marshall the following day. Me’arah scored seven points and six rebounds in 15 minutes of action.

Last Tuesday, the NBA on TNT team incorporated the Gators and released a stuffed Gator from the ceiling onto an unsuspecting Charles Barkley.

Rioux and the no. 4 The Gators men’s team (15-1, 2-1 SEC) hosts Missouri on Tuesday at 21. Me’arah and the Gators women’s team (11-7, 2-2 SEC) travel to Ole Miss on Thursday at 9 at

Noah Ram covers Gainesville-area high school sports and University of Florida athletics for The Gainesville Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Contact him by email at [email protected] and follow him @Noah_ram1 on X/Twitter.