Canada’s Brady Heslip is attracting a lot of attention with his performance during March Madness in NCAA Division I men’s basketball.
The Burlington, Ontario native scored nine three-pointers in an 80-63 victory against Colorado on Saturday, leading the Baylor Bears into their second Sweet 16 appearance in three seasons.
The 21-year-old guard has been propelled to stardom with his impressive three-pointer abilities while playing for Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
His signature “three-point goggles”, when he forms a circle with his thumb and his forefinger over his eye, while flashing three fingers.
Heslip finished with a career-high 27 points against Colorado and his nine three-pointers (on 12 attempts) set a single game NCAA tournament record for his team, though he came just shy of the overall tournament record.
He now averages 10.3 points per game going into Sweet 16 play this weekend.
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Born June 19, 1990, Heslip was introduced to the world of basketball at a young age. His father, Tom Heslip, was an all-Canadian player for the University of Guelph in 1980.
His uncle, Jay Triano, played on the Canadian National team for 11 years and then went on to become the head coach of the Toronto Raptors for nearly three years.
His journey to fame has not been easy; Heslip was originally picked up by Boston College, but after his recruiting coach was fired the new coach doubted his performance and benched him. Heslip transferred to Baylor where his career began to pick up speed.
But it was his game-winning performance on Saturday that had his three-point goggles trending on Twitter. Fans, even other NCAA athletes, were tweeting about his game.
Fellow Canadian guard Kevin Pangos, who plays for Gonzaga University, cheered on Heslip despite his own team being eliminated that day.
The Bears are ranked third in the National Collegiate Athletics Association tournament, which moves into the second day of “Sweet 16” play Friday.
Baylor is favoured to win against opponents Xavier.
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