Dave Boling: Look out below! High-flying Khalif Battle brings a unique energy to this Gonzaga team

One week into the season is far too soon for sweeping talent assessments, you say?

Sorry, I’m going on record with this: Gonzaga’s portal gem Khalif Battle has already offered evidence that he’s on his way to becoming one of the most dynamic and exciting players the Zags have had in a long time.

Maybe a real long time.

The second half of GU’s 88-80 win over Arizona State was prime Battle time.

With the game tied at intermission and well into the second half, Battle scored all of his 19 points in the final 20 minutes, with three 3-pointers and a massive, momentum-shifting dunk that he needed air-traffic clearance from Spokane International to go up and get.

“He’s quick-twitch and athletic, and one of those guys who can really, really, really go downhill,” said coach Mark Few, with the “downhill” comment presumably meaning the capacity to go with great speed and power toward the rim.

“We really haven’t had somebody like that in a while,” Few said.

See, it’s not just me on the Battle wagon.

Battle, a guard, transferred in from Arkansas (after attending two previous colleges), where he shook up SEC opponents by averaging nearly 30 points in the final half dozen games of last season.

Looking from the outside, one might wonder if maybe such a well-traveled player might be a gunner, or a slacker on the defensive end. Perhaps somebody who might play outside the system.

Wrong. Big time.

He hustles. Seems to play with good energy on defense. He scores in electrifying spurts.

And, oh yeah, he flies.

The Zags (2-0) were struggling to separate from the talented and determined Sun Devils, and trailed by two with just under 9 minutes left.

Zag sophomore post Braden Huff, himself a revelation Sunday (team-leading 21 points), was in the process of convincing the GU staff that he was not a defensive liability by diving on the floor to gain possession of an ASU turnover.

“I knew if I didn’t get it I’d get chewed out,” Huff said.

Rolling on the floor, Huff flipped it to a racing Ryan Nembhard, who saw Battle taxiing for takeoff on the other side of the hoop.

“I thought it was a little too high,” said Nembhard, who put in another award-worthy point-guard performance (11 assists, 0 turnovers). “I thought I overthrew it, but he’s always talking about just throw it anywhere and I’m going to go get it. I guess he wasn’t lying. He’s got some ups, that’s for sure.”

When asked about his contribution to the fan-energizing play, he dead-panned. “I dunked it.”

Did he ever. It wasn’t that he was so high, but more impressive that he caught it well behind his head, and force-fed it to the net in a catapult motion.

Battle, in his sixth season of college basketball, is pretty quick with a quip and comfortable at the interview table.

He claimed that his dunk was the least impressive part of the play, with Huff’s diving-on-the-court hustle the key to it all, and then Nembhard’s alley-oop putting him in the right position.

He said he couldn’t really notice the fan response because he’s so focused on talking to himself during the game. He’s his own toughest critic, he said.

So many have talked about this Zag team’s depth. But there’s another dimension that might be more impressive. Breadth. You know, range, amplitude, magnitude.

They now have so many options, styles of play, and matchups they can exploit. Maybe more than ever.

The impressive advancement of Huff has provided a great change of pace from senior post Graham Ike, while another transfer, Michael Ajayi, has fit in perfectly as a rebounder and defender.

Ajayi has had 20 rebounds in the wins over Baylor and ASU. “He assumes every ball is his,” Few said of the aggressive Ajayi.

It’s all a tribute to Few and his staff for snatching up a pair like Battle and Ajayi, who are not only talented, but have been quick to buy into the Zag ethos.

After Battle finally came in for his post-dunk landing, he screamed toward his teammates and made a flexing motion.

“Those are your brothers, you go to war with them.”

A perfect explanation from a player whose surname also describes his style of play.