Five days after the spring signing period opened, Montana signed Norwegian point guard Lars Espe, using one of the two remaining scholarship the Griz had to offer.
Espe committed to Montana on Saturday to become the fifth member of the 2017 class to commit to Montana after the Grizzlies secured verbals from guards Timmy Falls and North Idaho College transfer Nico Bevens and posts Kelby Kramer and Karl Nicholas.
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Espe, 18, comes to Montana from Norway where he spent the last two seasons playing for Gimle BBK Bergen in Norway’s BLNO League. Espe’s numbers improved across the board during his second season with Gimle BBK, which finished third in what is considered the country’s most competitive league. Espe, who is listed anywhere from 5-foot-10 to 6-1, averaged 15.1 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds and hit 39 percent from of his 3-point attempts last year.
“We needed someone that can manipulate the defense, get the ball where it needs to be, and also someone that allows Ahmaad (Rorie) to play off the ball a little bit and focus on scoring when we need to do that,” UM head coach Travis DeCuire said in a press release.
“He’s a pure point. He definitely knows how to create shots for others, he knows where guys are at, he’s got very good court awareness, and I think he’ll be special in addition to what we have coming back.”
Espe, a native of Bergen, Hordaland, Norway, visited Montana earlier this month as Montana looked abroad for the final pieces of its latest recruiting class. Admir Besovic, a 7-foot center from Sarajevo who played at the Virginia Episcopal School, is currently on his official visit to Missoula.
Espe was also recruited by Montana State and visited the Grizzlies’ rival last weekend, as confirmed by Skyline Sports. Espe has a connection to Montana State through the Bobcats’ freshman guard Harald Frey. The two played in the same league for a season and played in the same junior league.
Frey, who is from Oslo, Norway, was named the 2017 Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year after averaging 12.7 points and 3.4 assists per game as the Bobcats won 11 Big Sky contests.
“The other thing that’s attractive about Lars is that in Norway, he’s playing at a professional level,” DeCuire said in the press release. “He’s playing against grown men. So, for a freshman to come in and be able to play right away for you, sometimes going abroad is a pretty good option just because of the experience.”
Among Montana’s four seniors to exhaust their eligibility following a tumultuous 16-16 season that ended in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference tournament were guards Mario Dunn and Walter Wright. Wright was a 2016 All-Big Sky honorable mention selection and came off the bench to pair with Ahmaad Rorie to handle the bulk of Montana’s point guard duties this season. Without Wright and Dunn, Montana coach Travis DeCuire and his staff wanted to add a true point guard this offseason to back up Rorie, who will be a junior next season.
“The two areas that I think could be beneficial to us right now are someone that could come in and have a positive assist-to-turnover ratio, get the ball where it needs to get, and manage the team and run the club,” DeCuire said Tuesday afternoon before adding that he would like to add a post to defend the rim.
Espe was primarily recruited by first-year assistant Marlon Stewart.
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