Colorado basketball alum Xavier Talton, who played point guard for the Buffaloes from 2012-16, recently signed a professional contract to play overseas with the St. Paul's Killarney Basketball Club in Killarney, Ireland.

Talton, whose 135 games played in a CU uniform ranks second all-time in program history, also played professionally in Macedonia back in early 2018.

Talton said his favorite memories while at CU were beating No. 6-ranked Kansas at home as a sophomore on Dec. 7, 2013 and making the NCAA Tournament three out of the four years he played. He also maintains a fond admiration for his former head coach, Tad Boyle.

“Tad is a great guy and great coach," Talton said. "I wouldn’t have chosen another place to play (college basketball). He made my time at CU worthwhile and if there was one thing I really took away from him, he’s not just all about basketball — he tries to teach you to be young men off the court as well. There’s one thing that sticks in my mind that he always used to tell us: not to let basketball use us, but to use basketball as a vehicle to get places in life. There’s a lot of different life lessons he taught us, not just on the court.”

Before getting this current gig in Ireland, he had played professionally in Macedonia for the first half of 2018 and since then had been searching for his next move professionally.

“To be honest, I hadn’t played professionally for a year," he said. "The last time I played was the beginning of 2018. I was in Macedonia but I didn’t find a contract until now. I went to Spain, did some training over there, made some connections and was able to get hooked up with the St. Paul’s team.”

In the meantime, before going to Spain, Talton was working a health and benefits consulting job waiting for a basketball opportunity.

“I was working a 9-5 job downtown in Denver, but in the meantime, I was staying in shape, working out and staying ready. I took a chance to go over to Spain and train a bit and the rest is history.”

Prior to Macedonia and Ireland, he had tried out for the Los Angeles Lakers' G League team before an injury slowed down his road to landing in a league.

"From there I kind of got stuck and ended up injuring myself, tearing my Achilles the beginning of 2017," he said. "I moved to Arizona, rehabbed for about seven months and then I finally got my opportunity to go overseas and play in Macedonia in January of 2018."

In Spain, Talton competed and trained at Europrobasket International Academy, which since its creation in 2015 has asserted itself as the premiere European training organization that has proven to be a major pipeline and facilitator for players finding homes in various European basketball leagues.

Talton was aided in landing over in Spain and at Europrobasket by his friend and fellow CU hoops alum Sabatino Chen (2010-13).

“There were a couple of guys I knew (over in Spain) and actually Sabatino Chen was the one who recommended me to some guys over there who have connections to teams around Europe," Talton said.

Talton spent about two weeks training in Spain and just as he was leaving to head back to the U.S. he was informed that St. Paul's was interested in offering him a contract. He went back home to Sterling for a few days and came right back to Europe, where he's been settling himself in in Killarney (southwestern Ireland).

“I came here before the day before my first game, had a hour-long practice with the team just learning some plays...it’s been pretty good so far," he said. "I’ve adjusted well. I feel like I was prepared for the level of competition and I see myself continuously getting more comfortable with the team."

He made his debut on Dec. 14, not a full day after joining the team. He scored 14 points to go along with 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals in 18 minutes on the court.

Talton has had to navigate the rules of the Irish League, which apply (and restrict) him as an American player.

"I do have to split minutes with another American because you can only have one American on the court at a time," he said. "It brings it challenges but at the same time, I was brought here to do a job so I want to produce right away. Compared to Macedonia, it’s still professional basketball, it’s a very tough level. I think there’s some great players in this league that I’m in — I can’t complain about it all.”

The other American on the Scotts Lakers is Aaron Jackson, who played college basketball at Akron from 2013-17 and East Carolina from 2017-18.

St. Paul's is done for the calendar year and will resume games early in Jan. 2020.

For the rest of the season, Talton is focused on helping the team in whichever ways he can all while working to keep his professional career going.