UF Hall-of-Famer and former All-America center Joakim Noah (left) with Gators current center and All American Rueben Chinyelu after practice Saturday.
At Center of Championships
Tuesday, November 10, 2026 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – He had just finished a heartfelt chat about what he called the greatest time of his life.
Joakim Noah made close to $150 million during his 13-year NBA career, but Saturday after Florida's basketball practice he wanted a group of young men he was addressing – the 2026-27 UF basketball team – to understand they were in the middle of best days of their lives. Yes, they're getting paid now, which was wonderful, Noah allowed, but it was the relationships and memories that would be most everlasting.
When done, Noah broke off from the horde and sought out UF senior center Rueben Chinyelu. The two shared a private few minutes together.
Chinyelu met Noah a few years back in Senegal when their paths first crossed; Chinyelu, a blossoming young prep school player from Nigeria, and Noah, an investor in NBA Africa and ambassador for the Basketball African League. They stayed in touch.
"I did not know who he was then," Chinyelu admitted of the first time he met Noah, whose icon status in Gator Nation rivaled contemporary Tim Tebow's back in the day. "But I knew he had done something special and that he cared."
Noah, of course, did lots of special at Florida, where the 7-foot center and his fellow beloved "04s" – Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green – led the Gators to back-to-back NCAA championships in 2006-07. Noah also was special in the NBA, where he was a two-time all-star and its 2014 Defensive Player of the Year.
As far as the care part, well, he took particular interest in helping Chinyelu navigate his journey from Nigeria to college basketball in America. That path started at Washington State, but after one season turned to Florida, where the 6-11, 265-pound Chinyelu won a national title in 2025 and garnered both Southeastern Conference and NCAA Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2026.
"More than the attributes and accolades, just to see him in this environment and how comfortable and welcomed he's become at Florida, I just could not be happier for him," said Noah, whose African ties trace to a grandfather who was a standout soccer player from Cameroon. "What he's been able to accomplish here, I am so proud. This place has left its mark on him."
And vice versa.
Forwards Thomas Haugh and Alex Condon may be the four-year darlings and faces of the Florida basketball franchise right now, but it's Chinyelu, their classmate, who has started every game since arriving on campus in the spring of 2024 and been an absolute warrior in taking on the biggest, baddest low-post bruisers UF opponents have had to offer.
Such will be the case again Tuesday night when the top-ranked Gators (2-0) play their first true road game of the season against rival Florida State (2-0) at the Tucker Center, where 6-11, 285-pound beastly freshman Marcis Ponder will be the latest in a line of massive athletic bodies to challenge Chinyelu.
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" setup here]
Ponder, from Miami, posted double-doubles in his first two college games, but it was how he fared in the exhibition season – Seminoles' wins over SEC foes Auburn and LSU – that most caught UF's attention. Ponder grabbed 21 rebounds, including 13 on the offensive end, in beating Auburn at Birmingham, Alabama.
In Florida's regular-season victories against Miami and Stetson (and even in preseason dates against Baylor and Stetson, to a lesser extent), opposing "bigs" have tried their best to go right at Chinyelu and even get under his skin. UM's monstrous (and flop-happy) center Somto Cyril was particular egregious on both fronts.
"I guess that's what they are trying to do, but it doesn't work on me," Chinyelu said. "I give power to whoever I want to give power to."
Last year, Chinyelu became the first UF player to average a double-double (10.9 points, 11.2 rebounds) in 50 years, while using his incredibly nimble feet and low-post discipline to double as a versatile defender who allows the Gators the option to switch the 1-through-5 positions. He opened the season with a 14-rebound effort against the Hurricanes and followed it with a career-high 21 points against the Dolphins. He sits at 13.5 points and 11.0 boards per night through two games.
The Florida coaches made their scout-team points in emphasizing what Ponder can do inside, but rest assured Florida State's coaching had similar -- and serious -- such conversations about dealing with Chinyelu.
"I usually try to put myself in an opposing coach's position to think about how that would be a big concern of mine if I was facing the Gators. Like, how do I prepare for that?" Gators coach Todd Golden said. "Ponder is providing a lot of value for them right now, both on the glass and around the rim. He's just a huge human being. My hope is that our experience attacks his youth a little bit [Tuesday] night."
Florida State is one of the tallest teams – the Seminoles' starting lineup averages better than 6-8 – the Gators will face this season. Florida returned its entire front court from a team that led the nation in rebounding margin and finished second in offensive rebound percentage. The real game underneath will begin when the ball is in the air.
Chinyelu will be right at home with the physicality.
"Once I am on the court, I am Rueben," he said. "It is business. When you go out there with the team, you are going to war. Do what I have to do to come out victorious."
Rueben Chinyelu(left) and Joakim Noah (right) share a moment after practice Saturday. Noah and several other former Gators from the 2006-07 back-to-back NCAA title teams were in town to film a TNT segment that will air in March to commemorate the 20-year anniversary of those titles.
It's that mentality, and putting it on display, that delights Noah when he watches the current Gators play. Twenty years ago, when he was in the middle of UF's run to those historic back-to-backs, Noah did not shy away from displaying his emotions. It made him adored by Gator Nation and reviled by everyone else. Part of the deal. He welcomed the blowback.
Chinyelu's go-to celebratory move is the tongue flash. If embracing the physicality is part of being Rueben, so is that.
It's a very large, very effective package in the post.
"It might be what's made me the most proud of him – that he's expressing himself," Noah said. "He's not in a shell. You see his joy. He's someone who communicates who he is and it just gives me goosebumps seeing the player he's become. I'm rooting for him so hard."
