Gonzaga’s Jesse Wade matches up against familiar faces

Jesse Wade had a high school reunion of sorts inside the Kennel.

Ahead of Gonzaga’s 79-66 win over Utah State on Saturday, Wade, a freshman guard from Kaysville, Utah, found Aggies guard Abel Porter, who played with Wade at Davis High.

Wade also reunited with Utah State guards Sam Merrill and Brock Miller. They attended neighboring schools and constantly played against Wade on the high school court.

Wade said he saw Porter over the summer for a game of pickup, but he hadn’t seen Merrill or Miller in more than two years.

But things haven’t changed too much in their friendship over the years, except that Wade plays a few states away now.

“It’s just so different,” Wade said. “It’s just so cool to see how here we are halfway across the U.S. now, but we’re all just still so close.”

Going against Porter was something Wade had a hard time adjusting to. Despite not getting a chance to play on Saturday, Wade said he caught himself slipping up and pulling for his former teammate a few times.

“He went in and got his shot blocked one time, and for a second I was going to complain for a foul,” Wade said with a laugh. “But then I realized that it was good that it got blocked.”