Former Highlander Menno Dijkstra will continue the next chapter of his basketball career in Girona, Spain. Dijkstra signed a professional contract with the basketball club, Basquet Girona, which NBA Champion Marc Gasol of the Toronto Raptors founded in 2014.
This won’t be the first time that Dijkstra will play basketball overseas. Dijkstra, a native of the Netherlands, played high school basketball at the Canarias Basketball Academy prior to making his debut at UC Riverside in 2015.
Dijkstra played his entire college career with the Highlanders with career averages of 6.1 points per game, 3.2 rebounds per game and 0.5 blocks per game.
During his freshman and sophomore seasons, Dijkstra was mainly used as a reserve, starting only two games in total. He produced similar numbers during his junior season but was inserted as a starter for eight games.
In his senior season, Dijkstra produced career-high numbers in points, rebounds and assists while starting 23 out of his 33 games played. Dijkstra’s scoring average went up from 5.7 in his junior year to 8.1 in his senior season. During a game against Pepperdine, Dijkstra scored a career-best 20 points.
Familiarity shouldn’t be too big of a barrier for Dijkstra next season as he has played basketball in Spain and Europe prior to playing for UC Riverside. He might experience some rookie struggles overseas as he gets used to playing with professionals, but if he continues his trend of improvement as he did in his senior season, Dijkstra should have a successful professional basketball career.
