The Land of Fire and Ice: Oakland's Hot-Shooter, Moore, Heads to Iceland

With 1:11 to go in regulation in Oakland University Men’s Basketball’s home contest against the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on December 29, 2022, senior point guard Jalen Moore hit his seventeenth point off a free throw to exit the court in a huge 83-61 win. 

Moore was embarking on a farewell season as a beloved member of the Golden Grizzlies team after transferring nearly three seasons ago from Olney Central College. Moore has been a part of many last-second shots, game-winning chances, and memorable wins during his time in Rochester. 

Oakland had a hole to fill years ago at the prestigious point guard position when Head Coach Greg Kampe tasked Associate Head Coach Jeff Smith with, “Go find us a point guard.” Since then, the streak of 17-straight First Team All-Conference members has remained strong as the esteemed Point Guard U title reigns on. 

As the buzzer sounded and the crowd got a traditional “that’s another dub” to the camera from No. 34, another show struck the naked night sky over 2,800 miles away.

Bundled-up boots attempted to keep their balance over inches-thick ice in the sovereign nation of Iceland, hopeful to hit a glimpse with their cameras of an elusive bucket list item for many. Just as the clock approached midnight, a whole five hours ahead of the Eastern timezone, the excitement began to wane and then rejuvenate in the negative-eleven-degree chill.

Like the ocean stretching its sudsy hand over the beach, green lights exploded in the sky and danced for the patrons for nearly forty minutes.

On-site photos courtesy of David Gibson, Oakland's Coordinator of Athletic Communications

Seven months later, little did the nation and Oakland’s own Moore know that the two show-stopping performers would intertwine themselves in the form of a new chapter for the Cloverdale, Indiana native.

On July 24, Haukar Karfa signed Jalen Moore to his first professional basketball contract. 

Moore’s new club competed in 1. deild karla (Men’s First Division) as part of the Icelandic Basketball Federation, sitting second on the professional pyramid with 12 teams in the 2021-22 season and won the division championship and secured promotion back to the Úrvalsdeild karla (Men’s Premier League). 

During the 2022-23 campaign, Haukar earned a third-seed in the playoffs but fell in the first round 3-2 in a best-of-five series to seventh-seed Þór Þorlákshöfn. 

Basketball competes for the icy-skin lamb and fermented shark-consuming public's attention with football (soccer), handball, and–maybe surprisingly to some–golf. Olympic weightlifting, perhaps emulating the tough spirit of the nation’s founders, is another popular activity. 

Icelanders are a proud people. For centuries, the country’s primary export was fishing due to its remote access to hearty sea life both above and below the arctic circle, and has recently become a popular tourist destination for the natural hot springs, breath-taking hikes, and northern lights tours. 

Contrary to popular belief, the native’s ancestors (Vikings, Nordic peoples from Denmark, and the Irish) did not wear horned helmets. Take note, Cleveland State and Northern Kentucky. 

Ninety percent of the country is basalt (basically dried volcanic rock), a statistic that dwarfs the limestone ground upbringings of Moore from the Hoosier state which has a booming industry of the stone through multiple constructions. 

Moore’s new club sits atop the Reykjanes Peninsula, a sprout of land in the shape of a horn roughly 17 miles southwest of the capital, Reykjavik, as part of a highway along the chilly Atlantic Ocean. This past July, the Geldingadalur erupted once again which spewed a spectacular splash of lava that resembled something like the jumping waters of the fountain on Oakland’s campus.

Like the spectators who stand atop Iceland’s lava-hardened grounds, the fans inside the newly minted OU Credit Union O’rena are no strangers to an eruption from the rumbles on the hardwood. 

Especially from a fan-favorite like Moore. 

Back-to-back 30-point games in Rochester during a split series versus the University of Detroit Mercy and Wright State University had Moore and company on a high as the season wound down in mid to late February of this past season. In those two games, Moore was 28-34 from the field, had 16 rebounds, 10 assists, and eight steals, six of which were a career-high against the Titans.

Moore is the seventh Golden Grizzly to eclipse 1,000 career points after transferring in, joining a grand total of 44 former players who have accomplished the feat. When the final buzzer went off in Oakland’s 81-74 loss to NKU in the #HLMBB Tournament, Moore had fought for 2,853 career points; the most ever by a transfer and the most–period– by any Golden Grizzly. 

Despite a disappointing finish, a new battle came over the horizon for Moore; acquiring a professional contract. 

“You have to stay in the gym,” said Moore, “Because your agent could call you one day and say hey, you have a workout with such-and-such in two, three days. So you have to stay ready. It’s also about the agency that you pick. There will be a lot of agents who will hit you up. You have to be careful with that.”

“I think I’m a great fit for my agency, I think he’s going to get me every opportunity in which he has and I have a great opportunity in Iceland.”

Haukar owns a couple of different sporting club teams across basketball, soccer, handball, karate, mind sports (Esports), and chess in the form of men’s and women’s squads across a variety of age groups.

For every athlete, even native Iclanders, getting a pro contract is a bit of a gamble. The stressors and trials that one can face of hearing no or even hearing nothing at all can be a bit discouraging.

“There wasn’t really a no. It was just a no answer,” said Moore, “You can’t get frustrated. You just have to control what you can control. It’s weird, it’s the journey. You think I put up these stats, so you deserve an opportunity but sometimes it doesn’t work out like that.”

After a lot of workouts and interest from a variety of places across the globe, it was the coach who was courting Moore through the popular mass communication mobile application WhatsApp. 

“The coach from Iceland hit me up. We had a conversation on the phone and it was basically about his plans for me and what he wanted me to do. I was excited but I knew Iceland was cold but it’s not anything I’m not used to,” said Moore.

He’s not wrong. In addition to sometimes impulsive, unpredictable wind gusts the proximity to the arctic circle does make for some chilly nights. Iceland is also unique in that the winter months only feature four hours of daylight while the summer months have twenty. 

“After looking up stuff about (Iceland), I didn’t know it was that beautiful. I’m actually excited to do some adventures like sightseeing, hiking, and stuff like that,” said Moore. 

Moore’s family is planning to visit in October after seeing how beautiful it is and support Jalen as he dons red, white, and blue but in a different nation, taking on Iceland’s top talent and competing at the pinnacle of the sport on a different stage. 

“I think it’s nice that an orange basketball can take me out of the country and my family can come experience it with me in a different part of the world that we’ve never been to,” said Moore, “This is only the start. God willing I stay healthy, keep improving, and keep getting better. The ball can take me a lot more places.” 

The lore of how Iceland was founded involved a navigator named Floki who released three ravens in different directions to find land to settle. For a student-athlete like Moore, releasing his hopes and using his skills is a lot like traversing uncharted waters and a blessing returning with an opportunity of a lifetime.