Rueben Chinyelu showed grown-man strength Sunday and one sequence has people buzzing

If someone had turned on Sunday’s contest between Florida and Alabama and was told there was a literal professional player on the court playing center, most would have walked away assuming it was Rueben Chinyelu that was the pro and not Alabama’s actual professional Charles Bediako. His stat line of 14 points and 17 rebounds was solid enough by itself.

But it’s play on the defensive side that people are starting to pick up on, and one sequence in particular has Chinyelu at the forefront of the National Defensive Player of the Year conversation.

Florida dominates Alabama behind Rueben Chinyelu’s defensive play

Chinyelu has upped his game in a ton of areas this year after flirting with the NBA Draft last year, but it’s his play on the defensive end that has morphed from generaic big guy in the lane to a legit wall that can guard almost anyone that was the most notable trait on display on Sunday.

To close out the first half, he got switched on to Alabama guard Labaron Philon. Most of the time, a guard on a center is a clear mismatch and an easy blow by. But Chinyelu put the clamps down and didn’t let Philon go anywhere. Eventually, Phion gave up and passed to fellow guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr.

The end result was the same, and Alabama was eventually called for a shot clock violation.

After the play, ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes declared that Chinyelu is the best defender in all of college basketball.

While Thomas Haugh and Alex Condon keep having their name pop up in NBA mock drafts, one has to wonder how long until NBA scouts start to pick up on Chinyelu. The knock against him for NBA purposes is that he doesn’t fit the mold of a modern center who can also shoot threes.

But if he keeps clamping down on defense as he did on Sunday against a literal professional player, it is going to be difficult for the NBA to ignore Chinyelu for much longer.