Tallest Player Ever Joins UC Irvine

0:00On April 30th, Olivier Ryu, the 7 foot 9 center known as the tallest player in college basketball history, just committed to UC Irvine. After two seasons as a preferred walk on at Florida, he made the move official on social media this Thursday. At Florida, Ryu suited up for 11 games in the 2025-26 season, logging just 16 total minutes off the deep bench. He etched his name in the books with the first ever basket by someone his height, slamming home a two handed dunk in a blowout over St. Francis. Florida stacked front court made real minutes hard to come by, led by stars like Alex Condon, Thomas Howe, and Rubin Kinyelu. Condon and Howe are coming back next year. She Nailu's eyeing the NBA draft, and the gators might start as preseason number 1. Ryu holds the Guinness record as the tallest teenager ever at 7 foot 5 back in 2021, and he even cut down the nets without a ladder. The Florida's elite eight win last season. Now he's heading to UC Irvine, where the anteaters went 23 and 12 last year, and lost

1:05in the NIT opener. This could be his shot at more core time, with a program that's hit the NCAA tournament a couple times this century.