It’s an easy comparison to make. Steph Curry and Melo Trimble. Both are 6-foot-3. Both are shoot-first guards. Both have wowed opponents with jaw-dropping elusiveness and a flair for the dramatic.
And both are the faces of their respective teams — Curry the star of the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors, Trimble the most exciting player on the No. 2 Terrapins men’s basketball team.
In fact, Curry recently said Trimble is very similar to “how I was back in college,” during the Jan. 31 episode of Big Ten Network’s The Journey.
But there’s a difference in the way they operate. A big one. Forget the obvious talent disparity between the college and pro levels and the guards’ resumes. Think about their respective team’s depth.
Curry benefits from playing on the most well-rounded team in the league. Trimble plays heavy minutes for a squad with limited backcourt depth. Curry logs 33.9 minutes per game, which amounts to 71 percent of a regulation professional game. Trimble logs 31.8 minutes per game, which amounts to 80 percent of a regulation college game.
That ranks first on the Terps, while guard Rasheed Sulaimon ranks second with 31.6 minutes per game.
The reason? Guard Dion Wiley suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee in November and is redshirting this season.
Wiley’s injury put a damper on the rotation, as Turgeon said he was slated to start, with Sulaimon coming off the bench as a sixth man with the ability to play the point. The Terps’ other backcourt options — guards Jared Nickens, Jaylen Brantley and Varun Ram — have struggled to contribute offensively during conference play.
There’s no denying Trimble and Sulaimon’s talent. But both have been inconsistent at times this campaign. And the playing time they’ve logged during the regular season could very well slow them down during postseason play, which often requires teams to play on short rest.
“Our guard play is as good as anybody’s in the country,” coach Mark Turgeon said Monday. “Between games, it’s up to me to keep our guys fresh. Make sure we’re keeping our rhythm. … We seem to so far keep those guys fresh and ready on game day.”
In addition to giving his team Sunday off, the coach was afforded another opportunity to give his starters a break Tuesday. The Terps beat down on lowly Bowie State in a 93-62 win, with Trimble and Sulaimon playing 17 and 20 minutes, respectively.
That opened the door for Brantley to log a career-high 21 minutes and score 10 points. Brantley hopes the performance could translates into him playing a larger role.
“We always tell Jaylen we 100 percent believe in him,” Sulaimon said.
Turgeon’s substitution patterns tell a different story. Brantley has received four DNPs and hadn’t played double-digit minutes before Tuesday since a Jan. 6 blowout win over Rutgers. Though he was expected to serve as Trimble’s backup early in the year, the 5-foot-9 Ram has slid into that role.
“I’ll have to watch the film and see how his defense was tonight,” said Turgeon, who commended Brantley’s offense against Bowie State.
If Turgeon likes what he sees enough, it could lead to more playing time for Brantley. That, and improvement from Nickens — he’s been held scoreless in five of 14 conference tilts — would tremendously benefit the Terps come March Madness.
Neither Trimble nor Sulaimon would admit they were getting worn down, even if it was true. But it’s no secret that some rest couldn’t hurt.
The Terps will play a game per day in the Big Ten tournament until they lose or win it all, while the NCAA tournament requires teams to play two games in three days each weekend.
And if Turgeon doesn’t like what he sees from Brantley’s tape? Then we’ll continue to see a lot of Trimble and Sulaimon, who might not perform well against teams with more guard depth.
Their campaign will end before April, a big disappointment for a championship-starved fan base. Wiley will be there, his eyes fixed on the court but his body stationed in a chair.
The Terps’ starting lineup stacks up with any in the country, but complete teams win championships. Golden State showed the rest of the NBA that last year.
There’s no doubt Trimble was watching Curry and his teammates win the title.
He yearns to bring a national championship to College Park. But he’s going to need some help.
