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Former Arkansas Razorbacks guard Khalif Battle has reportedly committed to Mark Few and Gonzaga. The news was broken by On3`s Joe Tipton, who posted on X:
Battle is going to the Zags after being courted by two Wildcats teams, Villanova and Kansas State. A 6-5 senior out of Hillside, NJ, Khalif Battle played in 32 games for the Razorbacks this season but opted to enter the portal despite the team bringing in new head coach John Calipari.
Battle averaged 14.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.3 assists as a clear, score-first point guard in 24.7 minutes. This is noticeably down from his 32.2 MPG in the 2022-2023 season during his last stint with Temple University.
With this commitment, Khalif Battle will play for a fourth team in his college career. He started as a member of the second unit at Butler before moving to the Temple Owls, where he played for three seasons. Those were statistically his most productive years, though his numbers have been on the decline since he moved to Arkansas.
Mark Few and Gonzaga likely offer Battle a chance to be the guy again on a team to make a deep NCAA Tournament run once more. This year, the Bulldogs narrowly missed out on their fifth Elite Eight appearance in seven seasons with an 80-68 loss to eventual runners-up Purdue.
Mark Few and Gonzaga's new recruits
Khalif Battle's arrival at Gonzaga is just the beginning for the Zags and Mark Few. They`ve retooled the roster quite a bit with a handful of other additions.
Alongside the 10 returning players (six of them seniors), Gonzaga is in a potential "win now" situation. Battle joins fellow newcomers Michael Ajayi and Cade Orness, an incoming freshman. Ajayi is a junior from Pepperdine, averaging 17.2 points and 9.9 rebounds, while Orness is a 6-5 scoring guard out of North Kitsap in Washington.
Orness is a walk-on with the potential to be a clear two-way threat for the Zags in the coming years. All of them will look to prove themselves to lead Gonzaga to another NCAA Tournament berth in 2024-2025.
