Where did Matisse Thybulle go to college?

Matisse Thybulle is an Australian-American professional basketball player currently playing for the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA. Born in Scottsdale, Arizona, Thybulle was the son of a Haitian-born engineer. Matisse and his family moved to Sydney, Australia in 1998.

He did not really focus much on basketball during his early years and turned his attention to swimming stating that lifeguards were “a really big deal”. Thybulle, however, returned back to the United States in 2005 and settled in Sammamish, Washington.

He struggled to learn basketball in his early days and couldn’t make a layup till he was in the eighth grade. He initially attended Skyline High School for two years and then transferred to a nearby Eastside Catholic, where Thybulle was ranked as a four-star recruit by Scout.com and a three-star recruit by ESPN.

Matisse Thybulle College

Thybulle chose to attend the University of Washington in Seattle, based on his relationship with Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar. As a freshman, he started in all 34 games, averaging 6.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 24.1 minutes per game. As a sophomore, he upped his scoring to 10.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.1 steals. However, the Huskies finished with a 9-22 record which led to head coach Lorenzo Romar being fired.

Thybulle considered leaving after the coach he came for got fired, but decided to stay and play his junior year there. He averaged 11.2 points his junior year, but it was on the defensive side of the ball that he began to separate himself from the rest of his class.

Thybulle only became the second player in Pac-12 history to have 90 steals and 40 blocks in a season. Thybulle decided to return for his senior year where he averaged 17.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.5 steals, and 2.3 blocks a game. After his senior year, Thybulle declared for the NBA draft.

Matisse Thybulle draft

Matisse Thybulle was selected as the 20th overall pick by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2019 NBA draft. Thybulle made a name for himself as a defensive stopper and was often trusted by coach Brett Brown, and later Doc Rivers, as the go-to option to take players out of games.

Thybulle played for four years in Philly as an integral cog in the Sixers rotation before he was traded to Portland in a four-team deal involving the Hornets and the Knicks. Thybulle is not seeing the same minutes he saw in Philly, but is still called upon to make crucial defensive stops.