March Madness spotlight shines on Canada’s Olivier Rioux

TAMPA, Fla. — The Florida Gators love hearing “We want Ollie!” chants.

Fans started calling for seven-foot-nine centre Olivier Rioux to enter the game just past the midway point of the second half during Florida’s 59-point victory over Prairie View A&M on Friday night.

Rueben Chinyelu, who broke a school record with his 19th double-double of the season, waved his arms, pumping up the crowd to scream louder for Rioux.

The defending national champions started their repeat bid with the second-largest victory margin in NCAA Tournament history. The No. 1 seed Gators (27-7) will face ninth-seeded Iowa (22-12) on Sunday night.

The loudest cheers in Florida’s opening-round rout came when Rioux checked in and then scored on a putback dunk long after the outcome was decided.

“It’s a great moment — I got the rebound and then I dunked it — but it’s also a great moment because I hustled, I did my job, and everything else toward the defence was good, too,” Rioux said. “I came to play.”

Rioux’s teammates enjoyed the moment even more than the raucous crowd celebrating in the student section and throughout the arena. Chinyelu started jumping up and down and the entire bench went wild.

Rioux, a redshirt freshman from Canada who became the world’s tallest teenager before turning 20, is believed to be the tallest player in NCAA history.

“It’s just a great time just being with this guy, be it from summertime, grinding with this guy, playing together, trying to get each other better,” Chinyelu said. “Just trying to do whatever to get him to play the game because we all worked so hard for that, so whatever time, seconds he gets, cherish that. I just want to see everybody win, see everybody enjoy it, do whatever we can to just make sure everybody gets to feel that moment being on the court playing with each other.”

Getting Rioux in the game means the Gators are well on their way to another victory. He played sparingly in the regular season, making two of his three shots in 13 minutes of action across 10 games. Rioux missed his first two shots before his thunderous dunk against Prairie View A&M. The Gators now are 11-0 in games he’s played.

“Just me seeing him being able to step up there, go in there, dunk the ball, make points, you could see everybody enjoyed it,” Chinyelu said. “Any time we’re playing and we can set up an opportunity to get our guys in, we really do that because that’s what we do because they grind. You guys don’t see behind the scenes. They get ready, they’re getting us ready, they’re playing with us, trying to make sure we have what we need to deliver.”

Rioux is determined to improve as a player, be more than a sideshow and display his skills.

“It’s important and I think I did that,” he said.

Facing Iowa

Next up for the Gators is a matchup against an opponent that’s been one of the best shooting teams in the nation, with a spot in the Sweet 16 in the South Region at stake.

Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz had a rare off night but still finished with 16 points on 4-for-17 shooting to lead the Hawkeyes to a 67-61 victory over Clemson on Friday night.

Stirtz, Kael Combs, Tavion Banks and Cam Manyawu reached the second round last season with Drake and transferred to Iowa with coach Ben McCollum.

“We’ve got really loyal kids and I knew that going in,” McCollum said. “Whether or not they’re perfect, they’re not. We’ve got our issues. I’ve got my issues. But what they’re perfect at is loyalty, and they’re tough and they established the foundation. We’re not done yet.”

Before Rioux punctuated Florida’s opener, the Gators had seven players reach double figures. Boogie Fland scored 16 points to lead the way, Chinyelu had 14 points and 13 rebounds, Thomas Haugh also scored 14 and Alex Condon added 13.

“It definitely will be a battle of tempo, a battle of pace, and obviously Ben is a great coach,” Florida coach Todd Golden said of Iowa. “Bennett is a great player. They’ve played really good basketball, and it’s going to be a great challenge for us.”

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