Cade Orness, the first of six Gonzaga Bulldogs to enter the transfer portal this offseason, has found a new home.
The 6’3 redshirt sophomore guard announced his commitment to the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers on Saturday, becoming the third Gonzaga walk-on in the past three years to transfer to a Division 1 program.
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Colby Brooks (San Diego) and Graydon Lemke (Belmont) transferred out in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Brooks averaged 2.7 points and 2.0 rebounds in 6.7 minutes per game for the Toreros in 2024-25, while Lemke scored 11 points with five rebounds across 23 minutes for the Bruins last season.
Orness was the first Zag to announce his intention to enter the portal back on April 1, and he became the fifth to find a new home – following Emmanuel Innocenti (Arizona State), Steele Venters (Washington), Braeden Smith (Notre Dame), and Ismaila Diagne (San Francisco). Fellow walk-on guard Joaquim ArauzMoore is the lone remaining available transfer from Gonzaga in the portal.
Time at Gonzaga
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Orness joined Gonzaga as a priority walk-on ahead of the 2024-25 season. He came across the state from Poulsbo, WA, where he was among the most prolific scorers in the state at North Kitsap High School. Orness competed against Davis Fogle in high school, leading North Kitsap to a 66-54 win over Anacortes in the WIAA 2A playoffs. Orness dropped 24 points in the win, while Fogle had 33 of Anacortes’ 54 points in the loss.
Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Cade Orness. | Photo by Erik Smith
The 6’3 guard redshirted his first year – like most walk-ons do – and ended up making eight appearances for the Zags this past season, scoring three points on 1-2 shooting with one rebound, one assist, and one steal in 21 total minutes played.
He made his college debut in Gonzaga’s 55-point win over Texas Southern on Nov. 3, 2025, and scored his first bucket two weeks later in GU’s 72-point victory over Southern Utah.
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Off to the mountains
Orness moved across the state for his first collegiate stop, but now he’s headed all the way across the country to Emmitsburg, Maryland, to play for the Mountaineers in the MAAC.
Mount St. Mary’s went 15-17 last year and finished 11-9 in conference play, thanks to a balanced trio of scorers in guard Arlandus Keyes, wing Trey Deveaux, and big man Luke McEldon – who transferred to Northwestern.
Mar 21, 2025; Raleigh, NC, USA; Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers head coach Donny Lind. | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
All three of those double-digit scorers are out the door for coach Donny Lind, along with seniors Xavier Lipscomb and Justin Amadi.
Orness becomes Mount St. Mary’s third transfer portal addition, alongside Longwood’s Redd Thompson and Drake’s Wilguens Exacte, and he should get a real opportunity to play rotation minutes at the Division 1 level, which was not going to happen for him in Spokane.
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Gonzaga has seen 11 departures from last year’s roster, and thus far has replaced them with Arizona State transfer Massamba Diop, Houston transfer Isiah Harwell, Real Madrid big man Izan Almansa, and incoming freshmen Luca Foster and Sam Funches.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/gonzaga as Former Gonzaga guard Cade Orness announces commitment to MAAC school.
