‘I’m never in a slump’: Khalif Battle gets his points across in Gonzaga’s 73-53 win over LMU
There are probably few, if any, college players in the country with stat lines resembling Khalif Battle’s over the past five games.
In order, Battle has scored zero, zero, 23, two and 24 points – the latter helping Gonzaga pull away from Loyola Marymount 73-53 on Thursday at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
It’s the second time the senior wing has stung the Lions. He scored his season-high 26 points in GU’s 96-68 win in Los Angeles, hitting 10 of 12 shots from the field, including 4 of 5 on 3-pointers.
In the rematch, Battle struggled from the field (4 of 13, 1 of 7 on 3s), but he cashed in at the foul line (15 of 16). He’s in the top 10 nationally at 92.6% from the line for the season.
“It’s huge (Battle getting to the free-throw line) and sometimes he’s able to do that and other times he’s not,” head coach Mark Few said. “So it’s kind of hit or miss. They were switching a lot, so when they’re doing that it should give him an advantage to take somebody off the dribble. He picked his spots wisely and was able to convert or get himself to the line.”
The five-game stretch has seen Battle go from starting and going scoreless in Gonzaga’s 103-99 loss to Santa Clara to three games coming off the bench – zero points and no shots against Portland, 23 points against Oregon State and just two points in the loss to Saint Mary’s last Saturday – before returning to the starting unit against LMU.
“People were talking about I’m in a slump or whatever, I’m never in a slump,” Battle said. “I just didn’t get enough shots up, in my opinion. I’m a wired scorer. It’s good that coach did that (pulled him from starting lineup). I deserved that. ‘E’ (Emmanuel Innocenti) stepped up, other people stepped up, deserved the minutes.
“But I’m happy to be in the lineup and I have to keep building off this.”
That would be just fine with Few and the Zags. Battle’s scoring averages reflect his influence on outcomes. He’s putting up 13.7 points in Gonzaga’s 17 wins and 10.3 points in seven losses.
“We’re hard to beat, we’re one of the best teams in the country when ‘KB’ is at his best,” sophomore forward Braden Huff said.
Battle scored all eight of his first-half points in the final three minutes and two seconds, including hitting the team’s only 3-pointer of the first half. His first eight points of the second half came at the foul line before he converted a nifty reverse layup off Ryan Nembhard’s assist, giving GU a 54-46 lead with 8:28 left.
“He’s been a little bit of an enigma, quite honestly, it’s just hard to figure out,” Few said. “We’re at our best when he’s at his best clearly. So hopefully, we can keep him in that space he was in tonight and keep delivering. It has been wildly inconsistent, but when he’s on, he’s on.”
Battle moved into the starting lineup at Arkansas about midway through last season and had four games with 11, 11, six and zero points. He scored just eight points coming off the bench in the next two games before returning to the starting lineup. He put up 18 and 15 points in his next two games before catching fire, averaging 29.6 points in the last seven games of the season.
Opponents have been trying to limit Battle’s right-handed drives to the rim, but the Arkansas transfer mixed it up against LMU with a couple of drives to his left that resulted in points.
“I can go either way (right or left), however they want to guard me,” Battle said. “It’s doesn’t really matter to me. It’s not about me scoring. It’s about defense.”