What to expect from Temple transfer Khalif Battle

Temple's Khalif Battle (0) shoots in the first half of an NCAA college basketball consolation game against Richmond at the Good Samaritan Empire Classic, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Arkansas and Eric Musselman on Wednesday gained a commitment from one of the most talented scorers in the NCAA transfer portal.

Khalif Battle, a 6-5 guard from Temple, became the third player to announce plans to join the Razorbacks for the 2023-24 season. He joins guard Keyon Menifield of Washington and Tramon Mark of Houston.

Battle, who averaged 18.6 points on 43.5% shooting and 37.3% beyond the arc — 263 attempts — in 34 games in his final 2 seasons with the Owls, will be counted on to bring offensive pop to the table at Arkansas.

Javon Edmonds, who covered Battle and Temple for The Philadelphia Inquirer, believes the guard will do just that.

“He’ll get them right back to the tournament,” Edmonds said. “He won’t have any trouble scoring in the SEC. With Anthony Black leaving, Ricky Council and Nick Smith being gone, he’ll be perfectly fine down there.”

Battle’s shooting and scoring ability makes him arguably the most intriguing of the Razorbacks’ spring pledges. Arkansas shot under 32% from three-point range the last two seasons, and it felt paramount this offseason that the Razorbacks add a piece capable of filling it up beyond the arc.

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The New Jersey native fits that bill. In 7 games played in 2021-22, Battle averaged 3 made threes per game, and last season he hit 2.9 threes over 27 games prior to leaving the Owls for personal reasons.

He knocked down 3 or more three-pointers in a game 17 times in 2022-23, including 5 against SMU and Drexel, and 6 vs. Richmond. A video posted to the College Basketball Scouting YouTube channel shows he scored at a 1-point-per-possession clip (64th percentile) in spot-up situations last season.

“The kid’s got range,” Edmonds said. “What is a contest for some people isn’t really a contest for him. His jump shot, he gets so high on his release that it’s kind of hard to even get a hand to the ball.

“You have to actually block his vision to the rim if you want to contest his shot, because you’re just not coming close to his hands with how high he jumps.”

Edmonds added that Battle is not your standard catch-and-shoot player.

“His game is very much catch it on the wing and isolate himself,” Edmonds said. “He’ll catch it, get his little combo off and get to the rim, or he’ll take a pull-up out of the pick-and-roll. His catch-and-shoots, he [didn’t] get many open catch-and-shoot opportunities.

“When he gets them, he hits them. But a lot of his catch-and-shoots were catch it, jab, jab and pull a contested shot. Or he would catch, jab, side-step and take a contested shot.”

CBB Analytics shows that Battle last season shot the ball best beyond the arc from the corners, where he was a combined 21 of 50 (42%), but he prefers the above-the-break three. Battle shot 36.1% on 61 attempts from the right wing, and 30.9% and 30% from the left wing and top of the key, respectively.

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The guard hit 36.2% of his 127 three-point attempts within 25 feet, per CBB Analytics, and 32.6% beyond that threshold. Battle, too, was 14 of 27 (51.9%) on long two-point jumpers.

Beyond perimeter shooting, Edmonds said Battle is a “three dribbles max” kind of player with the ball in his hands in the half court. However, he scored 1.06 PPP (95th percentile) as a handler in ball-screen actions, according to College Basketball Scouting.

Battle also contributed 1.15 PPP (70th percentile) in transition last season.

“He can get downhill and he has a good dead dribble to get into a quick pull-up,” Edmonds said. “It’s just he can’t really put together too many combinations at the same time.”

Defensively, Battle was No. 2 on the Owls in steals despite missing five games, but he averaged just 1.2 per 40 minutes played. He had multiple takeaways in seven games, including a career-high four against VCU and Maryland Eastern Shore last December.

The guard is a capable defender who several times took on the challenge of matching up with opposing teams’ top perimeter player.

“The pick-and-roll defense, he could be a little quicker getting through those screens,” Edmonds noted. “When he guards someone a little more muscular than him, they have a tendency to be able to back him down.

“It’s just about him staying emotionally checked into games.”