BYU Basketball Player Got Stuck In Elevator At NCAA Tournament Hotel
Mar 17, 2021, 5:40 PM | Updated: Mar 18, 2021, 11:36 pm
BYU Basketball guard Jesse Wade in action against the Portland Pilots. (BYU Photo/Jaren Wilkey)
(BYU Photo/Jaren Wilkey)
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana – The BYU basketball team arrived here in Indianapolis on Monday afternoon. Since they arrived in the Circle City, the Cougars, like every other team in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, have been quarantining in their hotel rooms in preparation for the big dance.
On Wednesday evening, around 6:52 p.m. (EDT), BYU basketball guard Jesse Wade took on a different quarantine style. He was stuck in the elevator at BYU’s team hotel while heading down to dinner.
BYU coach Mark Pope fired up the team’s official Instagram account and went live to have some fun with the situation and show the former Davis Dart was holding up okay in the elevator.
View this post on Instagram
“We’re trying to comfort Jesse and make sure that he knows that we’re in this with him. Cougar Nation, pray for Jesse Wade,” exclaimed Pope.
Wade said, “It’s been about 15 minutes [in the elevator]. It’s brutal. All of the boys are eating food without me.”
While his boys were enjoying their food, they chimed in during the Instagram Live. BYU center Kolby Lee, “My man stuck.” And BYU graduate assistant Bradley Kitchen wrote, “Should have taken the stairs.”
That’s a good point. I’ve never heard of anyone getting stuck in a stairwell.
I’M OUT 😂 40 minutes feels like a lifetime when you’re trapped inside an elevator. All I can say is that if you think I had it bad in there…you should see the elevator door after the boys got me out… 😂 @BYUbasketball https://t.co/f5BhMT60QS
— Jesse Wade (@jessewade10) March 17, 2021
The elevator at the Westin finally began to work, and Wade was freed out of the elevator at 7:08 p.m. local time. That’s a lengthy 45-minute stay in an elevator. The sad thing for him was that his teammates and coaches didn’t leave much food for him to eat.
Pope jokingly said to him, “Most of the food is gone, but we’re gonna save you a dinner roll.”
A transfer from Gonzaga, Wade is in his junior with the BYU basketball program. He’s appeared in eight games this season in his first full year back from a knee injury he dealt with last season.
Now that Wade is out of the elevator, he and his BYU teammates will continue preparations for their first-round NCAA Tournament game against Michigan State or UCLA on Saturday night at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse. Tip-off is set for 7:40 p.m. (MDT) on CBS and heard on KSL NewsRadio, your legacy home of the BYU Cougars.
Update: Jesse Wade released a video of him being freed from the Westin hotel elevator!
Scariest moment of my life but I knew the boys had my back 😂 @BYUbasketball pic.twitter.com/SWl21RFHCr
— Jesse Wade (@jessewade10) March 19, 2021
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