After Terrapins men’s basketball guard Melo Trimble couldn’t break out of his shooting slump during Thursday’s loss, coach Mark Turgeon said he had a lengthy talk with the sophomore star.
The fifth-year coach brought up the Terps’ record before Trimble arrived and in the two seasons with him. They went 17-15 the year before his freshman campaign and are 50-12 since he’s donned a Terps uniform.
“The guy’s an amazing player,” Turgeon said. “He’s done more for our program than a player in a long time. “
Turgeon even brought up his own playing days at Kansas.
“I told him, ‘I played 120 games and I shot well in two of them,'” Turgeon said. “I said ‘You’ve played 62 and you’ve shot well in about 56. So everything is fine Melo. We have a lot of basketball left. So don’t feel like you have to make shots for us to be successful.'”
Senior guard Rasheed Sulaimon, who has emerged as a vocal leader in his lone season in College Park, also talked with Trimble, who is shooting 18.4 percent over his past four games.
Sulaimon said they got together Friday and hoisted shots in the gym. But the conversation didn’t start with basketball.
“We were just trying to be positive with each other,” Sulaimon said. “It’s kind of hard sometimes playing this game. You go through a major slump, and it just feels like you can’t do anything right.”
Trimble, who hasn’t been made available to the media since Saturday’s loss to Wisconsin, will have a chance to end his shooting woes Sunday when the Terps host Michigan. They are looking to avoid their first three-game losing streak since 2012.
