If you were wondering where Melo Trimble went after Maryland and the Iowa Wolves of the NBA G-League, we here at Terps Watch have tracked him down.
The former Maryland point guard has taken his talents to the land down under of Australia. Trimble signed a contract with the Cairns Taipans of the National Basketball League and had quite a debut over the weekend.
Trimble had 32 points and seven rebounds, the best debut by any Taipans player in franchise history.
The 32 points came in a winning effort, as the Taipans topped the Brisbane Bullets 88-70. If there’s anyone who roots for both Maryland and the Brisbane Bullets, we’d imagine this was a pretty conflicting moment.
TAIPANS WIN!!
Kelly becomes the first coach in club history to register a win in his debut, while Trimble has the BEST game by any Taipans player in their first game with 32 POINTS AND SEVEN REBOUNDS. #WitnessHisstory pic.twitter.com/rMWjuoACiF
— Cairns Taipans (@CairnsTaipans) October 13, 2018
In pretty typical Trimble fashion, he found success by getting to the line a lot and making his free throws once he was there. 14 of his 32 points came from the charity stripe and he only missed two of his 16 attempts at the line.
You can check out the game highlights from his debut here.
It looks like Trimble needed a chance of scenery and a 14-hour plane ride to get back on track. Or perhaps he wanted to go to Hungry Jack’s and complain about how they are the Australian copy of Burger King. We also can’t rule out that he’s there to find P. Sherman at 42 Wallaby Way in Sydney.
Either way, a new league could give Trimble a new opportunity to enjoy playing.
Of course, Trimble isn’t the only Terp with an Aussie connection. Maryland football punter Wade Lees is from Australia and was asked about Trimble playing in his home country. His answer was pretty fantastic.
“I actually messaged him the other day, because I didn’t realize – my brother messaged me the other day and goes, ‘Do you know this guy from your school at Maryland? Played basketball there?’ I’m like, ‘who’s this guy?’ And he shows me it was Melo. And I was like, ‘I didn’t realize he was out in Cairns.’ Reached out to him and told him to get in contact with my brother, and he’d take him out on the Great Barrier Reef and that. Yeah, take him around. I’m sure he’ll get in contact with him. But, yeah man, he’s just got to watch out for those stingrays and sharks over there, so. He might not come back in one piece, I’ll tell you that.”
We’ll be keeping tabs on both Melo’s play in Australia as well as his budding friendship with Wade Lees’ brother.