Guard Melo Trimble keeps with a Wolverines guard in the Terps’ 66-56 win over Michigan at the Xfinity Center on Feb. 28, 2015.

Part of a busy summer for Terrapins men’s basketball guard Melo Trimble involved working with reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry. Trimble was invited to Curry’s SC30 Select basketball camp, and he said they hung out like he was his “regular friend.”

Curry taught Trimble his floater, dribble moves and how to study film. But the Big Ten preseason Player of the Year is looking to make strides in a different area of his game as a sophomore.

After leading the Terps with 16.2 points per game as a rookie, Trimble has placed new emphasis on improving his defense.

“I can excel on defense this year,” Trimble said at media day last week. “I can play the best defense I can play this year. I don’t have to worry about playing the whole game. I know that I can give 100 percent on defense and not be one of those lazy defenders.”

READ MORE: Transfer Jaylen Brantley will provide depth behind Trimble

Trimble said part of the reason his defense lagged behind other aspects of his game last season was that so much of the offensive burden fell on him. Coach Mark Turgeon expected him to carry the scoring load and run the offense, so at times, he used defense as a time to catch his breath.

Plus, Turgeon couldn’t risk him always playing aggressive defense because he needed him to stay out of foul trouble.

“I didn’t ask him to do a lot of that last year because he just couldn’t foul,” Turgeon said. “If he picked up two fouls, I got pretty nervous last year. I won’t quite feel that way this year.”

Turgeon now has transfers Jaylen Brantley and Rasheed Sulaimon to lean on for ball-handling duties if Trimble gets into foul trouble or just needs a rest.

And Trimble might not need to lead the team in scoring this season, either. The Terps added more frontcourt production with Georgia Tech transfer Robert Carter Jr. gaining eligibility and freshman center Diamond Stone joining the squad.

“I knew I tried to give all my energy to the offensive end and not the defensive end,” Trimble said. “But I know this year I will do it on both.”

Sulaimon, a graduate transfer from Duke, is highly regarded for his on-ball defense. While Trimble said Sulaimon hasn’t been giving him tips, he has been carefully watching how the former Blue Devil conducts himself on defense, especially in terms of his aggressiveness.

“What we’re working on is trying to [have Trimble] become a better defender, on-ball defender and team defender,” Turgeon said. “He has it in him.”

Trimble showed flashes on the defensive end of the floor last year, finishing 12th in the Big Ten with 1.3 steals per game.

But at times, he struggled to slow down opposing high-profile point guards. In back-to-back games in the Big Ten tournament, Trimble allowed Indiana guard Yogi Ferrell to score 18 points and Michigan State’s Travis Trice to drop 20 points.

Even so, guard Varun Ram is confident in his teammate’s defense.

“It’s not that he’s a bad defender,” Ram said, “it’s just that he’s so good offensively that sometimes his defense is looked at as his weak point.”

Trimble got a chance to learn from the best in the NBA this summer. He also had the opportunity to compete for Team USA at the Pan American Games.

Now he has the opportunity to showcase he’s a two-way player in his second college campaign.

“He’s definitely the best point guard I’ve ever played with,” Brantley said.