Reunited Idaho transfers Isaac Jones and Divant’e Moffitt enjoying chance to play their ‘best friend’

MOSCOW, Idaho – The movie industry has made a good living telling buddy stories: Butch and Sundance, Murtaugh and Riggs, Carter and Lee, to name a few.

This one might not be coming to a theater near you, but there is a good buddy yarn going on at the University of Idaho. Isaac Jones and Divant’e Moffitt have been friends since junior high days in Spanaway, Washington, where they bonded through basketball.

“We played a lot of basketball together in middle school,” Moffitt said. “We were forever locked in.”

The two went separate ways in high school, with Jones playing for Orting and Moffitt for Spanaway Lake . That continued in college, until they entered the transfer portal and are enjoying the opportunity to play a season together for the Vandals. Moffitt is a graduate transfer from Seattle Pacific University, and Jones is a junior transfer from Wenatchee Valley College.

“It’s like every game I run down court and think, ‘That’s my best friend’,” Jones said.

“It’s a dream come true,” Moffitt said. “He is one of the best players in the country.”

Idaho has often looked better than its 6-11 record. That may be frustrating for Jones and Moffitt, but they remain convinced a winning streak will begin, and the two are catching attention in the Big Sky Conference.

Jones, 6-foot-9 and 242 pounds, is the conference’s leading scorer, averaging 19.8 points per game with a high of 42 against Sacramento State. Many of his points are the result of low-post dunks. He is fifth in rebounding at 7.7 per game and first in blocked shots, averaging 1.3 per game.

Moffitt, Idaho’s 6-3 point guard, is sixth in scoring, averaging 16.4 points. He is second in assists, with 5.2 per game, and most of those are directed at Jones. During games, Moffitt looks forward to lobbing a pass toward Jones for a dunk .

“It is so easy and so fun having him dunk it,” Moffitt said.

The Vandals, 0-4 in the Big Sky, are seeking their first conference win against first-place Eastern Washington (10-7, 4-0) on Saturday. They have a rematch with Montana State (10-7, 3-1) at ICCU Arena on Monday. The Bobcats handled Idaho 72-58 in Bozeman on Dec. 29.

The Vandals have also fallen to Montana 67-56 in Missoula, and they dropped a pair at home to Sacramento State, 85-83 in overtime, and Portland State, 74-58.

“We are excited to play Eastern Washington,” Moffitt said, “and to run it back on a lot of these Big Sky teams, as well.”

A part of any good buddy story involves the participants knocking the rough edges off each other. Roommates Jones and Moffitt are no different.

“It’s fun,” Jones said,

“I would say we are loud,” Moffitt said. “In video games, we show emotion. It’s pretty fun.”

The two grew up 5 minutes from each other. They began playing basketball on outdoor courts, including at an elementary school where they had to scale a fence to get to the court.

“This was even when Isaac was short,” Moffitt said. “He had a growth spurt as a junior. Before that, I was posting him up. But Isaac holds grudges. When he got tall, that changed everything. When I guard him now, he goes right to the post.”

Their teammates seem to enjoy such banter.

“They call us ‘Spanaway,’ ” Moffitt said.

Basketball kept them out of trouble in that community near Tacoma, Moffitt said. Jones insists it was not as bleak as Moffitt seems to suggest.

“You make it sound like Alcatraz,” he said, while adding, “there were a bunch of knuckleheads everywhere.”

They reunited at Idaho after Moffitt considered playing a final year at either Nebraska Omaha or Washington State. Jones weighed transferring from junior college to either Boise State or Oregon State.

“This was the best fit for us,” Moffitt said. “We loved all the coaches and our potential teammates.”

Jones adds that he wanted a school where “people who I believed in believed in me.”

Idaho’s new ICCU Arena that uniquely features wood in its construction was also a factor. “That was part of it,” Moffitt said.

As the season has progressed, Idaho’s opponents have determined they have to stop Jones, so he typically sees multiple defenders. To counter that, the Vandals’ offense is evolving.

“How do we keep finding ways to get him the ball? We have to be creative,” Idaho coach Zac Claus said.

Claus added that Jones is unselfish about passing out of double teams to outside shooters. Jones said Idaho’s perimeter game will eventually click.

“The first half of the season, we showed the top of the conference to the bottom that we are competitors,” Moffitt said. “Some little adjustments and corrections, and these losses are going to turn to wins.”

Following what he hopes will be a successful final season at Idaho, Moffitt would like to have a career as a professional player, preferably in Australia.

“I want to be a pro,” he said. “I want to experience that wherever it takes me.”

When it concludes, he envisions a career in teaching and coaching.

Asked if he would consider returning next year as a Vandals assistant for a chance to coach Jones as a senior, Moffitt had to ponder.

“Now that you have put that thought in my head …” he said, before his voice trailed off. Then he laughs as he thinks of his buddy.

“I don’t think Isaac would listen to me,” he said.