All Gators

"No Feeling Like Being a Gator," Says Transfer Center Rueben Chinyelu

Washington State transfer Rueben Chinyelu hasn't played a game for the Florida Gators yet, but he's already feeling the pride of donning an orange and blue uniform.

Kyle Lander

Florida Gators center Rueben Chinyelu (9) makes a slam dunk as the Florida Gators men’s basketball team held a practice on John W. Frost II Practice Court in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, September 24, 2024. [Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun]
Florida Gators center Rueben Chinyelu (9) makes a slam dunk as the Florida Gators men’s basketball team held a practice on John W. Frost II Practice Court in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, September 24, 2024. [Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun] / Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
In this story:

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Florida Gators' transfer center Rueben Chinyelu hasn't been on campus long, but he is already feeling the pride of wearing the Orange and Blue.

“Man there is no feeling like being a Gator, it's a big thing and I’m proud to be part of it,” he said to open his portion of Tuesday's media availability.

And while he missed out on joining the Gators initially out of high school, Chinyelu made sure not to make the same mistake twice when they came calling again. Upon seeing the Gators were interested again, he felt it was something that should happen. 

“it shows that they wanted me to be there… being able to be around them again, to be like, yeah, OK, I think this is, this should happen,” Chinyelu said. “I think that was something that stood out for me.”

This wasn’t the main reason for the big man transferring to Florida though. The culture surrounding the university and its athletics was what sold him. 

“I would say culture, the basketball culture, also the school culture,” Chinyelu responded on why he chose Florida. “Just being a great sports school. Also, academically being a great school it’s something that drove me down here."

It is not easy moving to a new environment though. Cultivating team chemistry and relationships takes time. Luckily for the Gators and Chinyelu, this roster is diverse and plays home to many international players to make the transition easier. 

“That’s really fun to have in the environment where you are like new to a place or somewhere you’re not from,” Chinyelu said. “Having different people coming together for one purpose is really lovely. Also, getting to know people, make new friends, new family, new brothers and all like that, it’s really beautiful.”

How Chinyelu Helps the Gators

With Golden now finishing off the job the second time around and swaying Chinyelu to team up with the Gators, he is able to bring in a defensively sound big that can replace last year’s starting center Micah Handlogten – who is out for the upcoming season due to injury. 

Handlogten was a big part of how this team played offensively and defensively. The Gators loved to utilize two bigs on the court at almost all times. It allowed them to rebound at a high level not just on the opponent's misses, but also on the offensive glass as well. 

Overall, the Gators finished No. 21 in the country in rebounding margin, out rebounding their opponents by a little over six per game. Furthermore, they also were No. 3 in offensive rebounds per game, averaging 14.64. 

In addition to the rebounding schematics of this team, Chinyelu is also great at altering play around the rim. In his small amount of minutes, he was averaging 1.3 blocks per game and amassed 45 total blocks during his freshman season. That is the same amount as Gators sophomore Alex Condon, who also played one more game than him.  

It’s also important to note that while Chinyelu brings great length, his weight/muscle is top-notch as well. It may be a very specific detail but Handlogten is 235-pounds, while Chinyelu is 255-pounds. That 20-pound difference will be noticeable from the get-go when it comes to defending and setting screens on offense. 

Additionally, Gators Illustrated observed Chinyelu showing great poise as a passer from the post during the team's Tuesday practice.

Yet, if he is going to be using his size and length to have the impact that he wants in his first year in Gainesville, then he is going to need to work on not fouling as much. He averaged 2.2 per game with the Cougars in just 13.9 minutes per game. 

So, how is going to fix that? Staying within his boundaries, he said. 

“... There’s a line to everything, so there’s some lines you don’t cross, and I know my boundary and I just stay within my boundaries and I try not to pass the lines,” he said. 

And to stay in these boundaries, he’ll have to recognize the controllables and stay in the moment. 

“...just being able to recognize that this is something you can control and just stay in the moment rather than let you lose and being everywhere,” Chinyelu said. 

If he is able to calm down on the foul trouble, he can be a game changer for a very underwhelming defense from a season ago that gave up an eye-popping 79.2 points per game. 

However, it won’t just be Chinyelu fixing this problem. It will be a team effort to clean this up. 

“(Defensively) should be pretty good, and it should be a collective teamwork to get it going,” he said. “But overall, I think that our defense is cleaning up, and it's getting where it needs to be.”

All-in-all, Chinyelu will be a big positive for the Gator this season, and his style of play will not harm their's in the slightest when it comes to both offense and defense.

Published
Kyle Lander
KYLE LANDER