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Brady Heslip expected to play Saturday against Kentucky

Brady Heslip

Ten days after an emergency appendectomy, Baylor junior shooting guard Brady Heslip is expected to play Saturday against Kentucky at Rupp Arena.

CBSSports.com Senior Basketball Writer, Jeff Goodman tweeted the news just after 3:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon. Heslip has been out since Nov. 20, only missing one game - a 63-59 loss to Charleston. Without Heslip on the floor, the Bears shot a miserable 4-of-17 from behind the arc.

Heslip returning to the lineup could turn out to be huge for Baylor, who is looking to capture an early season win after suffering a pair of bad losses - Colorado and Charleston - to start the season. It will be a tall task heading to Lexington, in an arena Kentucky has yet to lose in since John Calipari took over the program. The 6-foot-2 sharpshooter could hold the advantage for Baylor over Kentucky.

In Kentucky’s two losses this season - to Duke and Notre Dame - the Wildcats were hurt from deep on both occasions. In Nov. 13 loss to Duke, Kentucky allowed the Blue Devils to shoot 8-for-18 from three, including a trio of three’s from Seth Curry, who ended the night with 23 points. Rasheed Sulaimon added three of his own.

Thursday night against Notre Dame, as part of the Big East/SEC Challenge, the Irish’s slow-down offense consistently got open looks from deep, spreading the floor with multiple shooters. Notre Dame shot 53 percent from three (8-of-15) to pull out a 64-50 win.

With Heslip on the floor, even if he is coming off a 10-day hiatus, spreads the floor and gives Pierre Jackson more room to create. On the heels of a disappointing loss, the young Kentucky team is still trying to find an identity, trying to figure out the point guard position and more importantly looking for a leader on the floor. Both teams can get a key win to kick off the month of December in an important bounce-back game for each side.

Baylor’s Brady Heslip, No. 2 on top shooters list, expected to play at Kentucky tomorrow. Had emergency appendectomy about 10 days ago.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanCBS) November 30, 2012

Terrence is also the lead writer at NEHoopNews.com and can be followed on Twitter: @terrence_payne