Canyon Barry won the SEC Sixth Man of the Year award in his only season with Florida Basketball, while earning a degree in nuclear engineering as a graduate transfer.
After pursuing a professional basketball career overseas and in the G League, 30-year-old Barry has stayed with basketball in a different format.
Barry was named to USA Basketball’s men’s Olympic 3-on-3 team in late March, which is no surprise considering the 6-foot-1 former player. Florida Gator swingman has excelled since joining the national program in 2019. His accomplishments as a member of the USA Basketball 3-on-3 team include winning a gold medal at the World Cup in Amsterdam in 2019, a silver medal at the World Cup in Vienna in 2023 and another gold medal at the Pan American Games in Chile last year.
During this time, Barry became a literal world traveler, traveling to 16 different countries in South America, Europe and Asia, whilst balancing a full-time job as an engineer at L3Harris in Melbourne.
“Growing up in Colorado Springs, home of the Olympic Training Center, I saw firsthand how incredible it can be to be an Olympic athlete and how truly a life-changing experience it is,” said Barry. “Having the honor of representing your country is something you live for, and I definitely worked a long time for it. Finally having this goal achieved means a lot to the world.”
How former Florida basketball standout Canyon Barry got involved in 3-on-3 basketball
Barry comes from basketball bloodlines. His father, Rick Barry, was a Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer who scored 25,279 points in a 15-year NBA/ABA career and won an NBA title in 1975 with the Golden State Warriors. His mother, Lynn Norenberg Barry, was a former women’s college basketball standout at William and Mary who set 11 school records while earning Academic All-American honors.
Lynn Barry went on to serve as assistant executive director of USA Basketball from 1985 to 1996 and still had contacts with the organization. At a 2019 Final Four networking event, Jay Demings, USA Basketball’s director of 3-on-3 teams, approached Lynn Barry to see if her son was interested in trying out for the team. Demings thought Barry would be a good fit for the team.
“I got on a call with him and was invited in 2019 to the USA Basketball 3-on-3 tryouts,” Barry said. “We played on the national teams with a lot of other guys from the G League and from there I was selected for the World Cup squad.”
Why former Florida basketball player Canyon Barry excelled at 3-on-3 basketball
The 3-on-3 format is played under FIBA rules and is different from the 5-on-5 game in many ways. It was first introduced as an Olympic sport for the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
Games are played at midcourt, outdoors, with a 14-second shot clock and a 10-minute game clock. The court dimensions are 49 feet wide by 36 feet deep, with a 19-foot free throw line and a 22-foot two-point line.
Teams must cross the two-point line after mistakes and, as in traditional half-court games, maintain possession of the ball after shots. Baskets are one point each and two points beyond the 22-foot arc. The first team to score 21 points wins or the team that maintains the lead at the end of 10 minutes.
“You have to be very well-versed because there is nowhere to hide,” Barry said. “You’re involved in every possession on the court. You have to be a fundamental player, adept at all aspects of basketball, and that’s why I think it translates so well to my game.”
Given the limited dimensions of the court, the game is also physical.
“The NBA opted for freedom of movement,” Barry said. “I like to call anti-freedom a 3-on-3 movement, where it’s a free fight to try to open up and land blows. So, it’s definitely an adjustment, it’s fun to watch, it’s fast-paced, it’s volatile and I think anyone who likes watching basketball will really enjoy it in comparison.”
In 2022, Barry won a gold medal and was named MVP in the USA 3-on-3 Men’s AmeriCup after averaging 6.8 points in five games. In 2023, Barry averaged 3.9 points and 1.4 rebounds for the USA World Cup squad.
“One of the keys to being a 3-on-3 player is versatility, and Canyon is by far our most versatile player,” said Team USA 3-on-3 coach Joe Lewandowski. “He can guard multiple positions, score on the interior and obviously score on the perimeter. Canyon does all of those things.”
What are Team USA’s chances of winning a gold medal?
Team USA just returned from the World Cup opener in Japan in late April, where Barry helped guide the team to tournament victory.
Barry’s teammates on Team USA include some familiar names – former BYU standout guard Jimmer Fredette, former Princeton forward Kareem Maddox and former Florida Southern College guard Dylan Travis.
“One of our Olympians, Kareem Maddox, had a minor calf strain, so we had a replacement there,” Barry said. “To still be able to go into that tournament and win it with a replacement coming in on short notice and be able to adapt to our system, I think bodes well.”
Barry is counting on the chemistry of the four playing together throughout the 2023 season to result in a strong performance in Paris. The 2024 Olympics are scheduled for July 26-August. 11, with the 3-on-3 basketball competition set for July 30-Aug. 5 on Place de la Concorde.
However, there are challenges in maintaining chemistry, as the four players live in different cities.
“I’m in Florida, Jimmer is in Denver, Kareem is in Minnesota and Dylan is in Omaha,” Barry said. “So that’s one of the challenges for our team compared to some of the other teams that live in the same city and train and practice together every day. We need to schedule our training camps and we will meet, sometimes in Miami. , sometimes in Colorado Springs, we meet in Butler, Pennsylvania where our coach is based, we do everything we can to make it work.
Another challenge for Barry is balancing basketball with his full-time job as an engineer in Melbourne.
“I’m so grateful to LP Harris as a company because they allowed me to pursue my Olympic dream and really worked with me on scheduling and working remotely,” Barry said. “I had conference calls in Mongolia at 3am to make this dream achievable, so the support I have at work has allowed me to continue pursuing this dream and I definitely stay busy with two full-time jobs.”
How does Canyon Barry reflect on his time with Florida basketball?
After transferring from the College of Charleston, Barry helped guide Florida to the Elite Eight in his only season at UF in 2016-17, averaging 12.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists. He came up with a shot block during UF’s 84-83 Sweet 16 victory over Wisconsin, a game decided by Chris Chiozza’s 3-point shot at the buzzer.
“I had a great experience in Florida,” Barry said. “We made it to the Elite Eight, we had that deep tournament, very grateful for that.”
Barry said he still keeps in touch with some former UF team managers and former center Schuyler Rimmer. He also ran into one of his other former UF teammates, Kasey Hill, earlier this week at Florida Atlantic University.
When Barry suits up in Paris, he will have the distinction of being the first former Florida basketball player to finish in the Olympics.
“Around the world, if you’re wearing Florida clothes, you can get a ‘Go Gators,'” Barry said. “So, very blessed to have this experience of playing at UF and you know, I’m always rooting for them.”
This article originally appeared in The Gainesville Sun: Former Florida basketball swingman Canyon Barry makes 2024 Olympic squad
