Konner Frey had his best game of his junior season against Montana State. Brian Fish apparently did not forget the 26-point, nine rebound effort in UVU’s 76-72 loss to Fish’s Bobcats in Orem, Utah last winter.
Despite averaging 14.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per game last season for the Wolverines, Frey asked for and was granted his release from Utah Valley this off-season. With the athletic 6-foot-6 forward on the market, Fish went heads up against BYU, Utah State, Boise State and Nevada. It came down to UNR and MSU. When Wolfpack standout Cameron Oliver removed his name from the NBA Draft on Monday, it was the first domino to fall. On Tuesday, Frey confirmed he is transferring to Montana State.
[restrict paid=”true”]“I had no idea I’d be coming back to play them the following year but when you go into scouting a team and preparing to play a team, you learn a lot about their guys,” Frey said. “I had a lot of respect for the program then and when they initially called, I definitely wanted to hear what they had to say.”
Fish and his staff have been in the market for a big man all off-season after the graduation of Danny Robison and the departure of Shy Blake. Frey fits the mold of a wing player who can slash to the rim and shoot a bit from the outside — he hit multiple 3-pointers in 15 games last season and 45 3s overall — but he will likely play the four in Fish’s up-tempo system. He played center for UVU quite often last season and pulled down more than 10 rebounds four times with a season high of 12.
After earning Utah 5A All-State honors at Viewmont High, Frey spent a year at Northwest Junior College in Powell, Wyoming. As a freshman, he averaged 7.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists in helping the Trappers to a 22-9 record and a berth in the first round of the Region IX Tournament.
In August of 2012, Frey embarked on a two-year LDS mission in Singapore and Malaysia. While abroad, he learned to speak Mandarin Chinese fluently. Because of his experience, he wants to pursue a career in international business where he can use his second language frequently.
“It was a huge jump start to life,” Frey said. “You are on your own in a foreign country trying to learn a language. I learned so many life lessons, learned how to be an adult, take care of things, do what’s right and what’s important. It was a huge growing experience. The maturity level definitely transfers to sports. You learn a lot about work ethic and what it requires.
“I fell in love with the language and I fell in love with the culture. It’s a big part of my life today.”
Upon his return in August of 2014, Frey walked on at Utah State. As a sophomore, he appeared in just four games, including two exhibition games, prompting another transfer, this one just down I-15 from Logan to Orem.
Because he went from walk-on at USU to walk-on at UVU, Frey was eligible right away. Last season, Frey started all 30 games for a 12-18 squad that posted a 6-8 mark in the Western Athletic Conference. Frey was UVU’s third-leading scorer and leading rebounder. He shot 42.2 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from the 3-point line.
In the classroom, Frey wanted to be studying international business and Mandarin but when he first got to UVU, he was “pushed into communications” because some of his credits didn’t transfer. After two semesters, he quickly realized the academic path was not what he wanted.
As Frey began to question his academic future in Orem, he began to think about his basketball future as well. When Utah Valley head coach Mark Pope told Frey he hoped he would play his senior year as a walk-on, Frey knew he needed to explore other options.
“I was very surprised and personally, I didn’t see that coming,” Frey said. “I never had any intentions of leaving until they asked me to walk on. I had to consider my best options at that point. I have nothing but respect for them. We have maintained a great relationship. I really like those guys so I would never try to throw them under the bus. But it was hard to not receive a scholarship like I thought I would.”
When first granted his release, Frey heard from schools ranging from the Pac 12 to the Mountain West, schools from the West Coast like UC-Riverside and Cal State Fullerton to East Coast schools like Iona. MSU, BYU, Nevada, UNLV and San Diego were the most fervent suitors.
Frey visited Bozeman on May 16 and 17. During his trip, he toured the campus, checked out the Jack Jabs Business School and learned MSU offers programs in international business as well as Chinese and Asian studies. Frey also met with MSU assistant strength coach Ricardo Ramirez, the primary strength trainer for the Bobcat basketball team. He takes weight training and physical conditioning “really seriously” so his connection with Ramirez also played a factor in his commitment.
“I just feel like Montana State took care of me,” Frey said. “The most important thing was on my visit, I just really fell in love with the coaching staff, their style of basketball, the campus and what they had going on. That was the most important thing: I just wanted to be a part of the program.”
Another key factor in MSU landing Frey is the fact that Fish and his staff are willing to help Frey fight for an NCAA waiver that would make him eligible right away. The main portion of the waiver is the academic appeal of Montana State, specifically that MSU offers programs that UVU does not.
“The waiver will hopefully allow me to play immediately,” Frey said. “UVU didn’t have any of the programs I wanted to be a part of. It’s totally up to the NCAA so we will see what happens.”
During his visit, Frey met MSU senior guard Quinton Everett, who is still the elder statesman at 28 years old despite the addition of the 24-year-old Frey. The newest Bobcat also met Robison and spoke on the phone with Tyler Hall, last season’s Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year.
Frey got a good taste of Big Sky competition last season. He scored 26 points against Montana State, scored 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds against Big Sky champion Weber State and scored 19 points and ripped nine boards against Idaho State. He was held scoreless against Southern Utah, his worst shooting night of the season, but still managed to haul in nine rebounds.
Now he will get a chance to prove it for a full Big Sky season, regardless if it’s this winter or next.
“I’m so excited to be a part of the Montana State basketball program,” Frey said. “Beyond that, I think Montana State gives me a lot of opportunities to succeed in life beyond basketball. I’m really excited to be up there and I’m really excited to play for Coach Fish. The goal is to win the conference title and go to the tournament. I will do everything I can and work as hard as I can to be able to do that.”
[/restrict]Photos courtesy of Linsey McClain – Utah Valley Athletics. All Rights Reserved.
