It might be hard to believe, but no foreign country has produced more NBA players than Canada. Everyone knows about Steve Nash, but 23 other Canadians have made it to the NBA — four more than France and six more than Serbia.

Flyer fans are seeing what kind of talent Canada can produce every time they set their eyes on 6-foot-6 freshman forward Dyshawn Pierre. He grew up in Whitby, Ontario, a city of 122,000 people northeast of Toronto on the shores of Lake Ontario.

Since he began shooting on a Fisher Price net when he was little, Pierre always dreamed about playing college basketball. So far it’s lived up to his expectations.

“It’s definitely a new experience,” he said. “The coaches and players have treated me like family, so it’s not too hard to adjust. They’ve been really good to me.”

Pierre grew up idolizing Michael Jordan, and then when “LeBron came in, he was my favorite, and he still is.” Of course, if you’re a Canadian basketball player, Nash has to be one of your heroes.

Pierre has been around Nash because Nash is the general manager of the Canadian men’s national team, and Pierre participated in the national team’s training camp in August.

“Everyone looks up to him,” Pierre said.

Pierre’s future with the Flyers and Canada Basketball looks bright. He’s averaging 9.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists, and he had a breakout performance against Boston College at the Charleston Classic last week, hitting 8-of-8 shots from the field, including 5-of-5 from 3-point range and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line, and scoring 23 points.

According to Pierre’s profile on Canada Basketball’s website, he is the first Canadian-born NCAA player to post such a shooting line since at least 1996-97.

“I was happy to have that type of game, but it’s over,” Pierre said. “I’m happy we got the win. We’ve got to look forward and try to be better, and I’ll try to give the team more the next game.”

The next game is today at 2 p.m. The Flyers (3-1) host Manhattan (0-2) at UD Arena. It’s the start of a three-game homestand that also includes matchups with Weber State (7 p.m. Wednesday) and Northern Illinois (8 p.m. Dec. 1).

Flyers coach Archie Miller said his team took a step forward by winning the last two games in Charleston against Boston College and Auburn. The play of Pierre and fellow freshman Jalen Robinson had a lot to do with that. The other two freshmen, Khari Price and Devon Scott, had their moments as well.

“Each individual game had different players step up at the right time,” Miller said, “in particular some of our young guys, which was good to see.”

“A lot of people have asked me what to expect from the young guys. I don’t think you ever know until you get them out there and they start playing. At one point of time, we had three freshmen out on the floor with Vee Sanford, four players who weren’t even on the team last year. We’re working with a lot of new combinations, and I liked what we saw.”