Florida’s Rueben Chinyelu is on a historic stretch of dominant rebounding
By David Wasson
Published:
Basketball coaches at any level will tell you that rebounding is one of the central statistics that directly lead to winning. And one of the prime reasons the defending national champion Florida basketball team is riding a six-game winning streak is the consistent glass work being done by center Rueben Chinyelu.
The 6-foot-10 junior from Nigeria currently sits third the nation in rebounding at 11.8 per game – and has pulled down at least 11 rebounds per game in Florida’s six straight victories.
OptaStats also calculated that Chinyelu is the only Division I (men’s or women’s), NBA or WNBA player to have at least 80 rebounds in 120 or fewer minutes over any five-game span this century.
Chinyelu has recorded double-doubles in nine of his last 11 games – with only a 7-point, 20-rebound effort against Georgia on Feb. 11 and a 10-point, 7-rebound outing against Auburn on Jan. 24 spoiling that run. Chinyelu went off for 21 rebounds against LSU on Jan. 20, matching his career high set Nov. 21 against Merrimack.
Chinyelu delivers 4.3 offensive rebounds per game – almost twice as many as his 2.7 per-game career average. No. 12 Florida (20-6 overall, 11-2 SEC) looks to build on its 1½-game SEC lead Saturday in Oxford against Ole Miss (Noon ET, ESPN).
Here’s a look at the SEC regular-season title market on Kalshi ahead of the weekend:
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
