“Just happy to be a Zag:” Gonzaga’s Khalif Battle providing points, defense and personality

Khalif Battle, unofficially Gonzaga’s director of entertainment.

The Arkansas transfer has been must-see on the court, scoring on everything from soaring one-handed dunks to silky 27-foot 3-pointers.

The three-game sample size is small, but he leads the fourth-ranked Zags in scoring (17.3), 3-pointers made (11) and 3-point accuracy (61.1%). That latter isn’t easy with Nolan Hickman, Dusty Stromer and Ryan Nembhard in the 47-57% range.

Battle has also delivered in post-game interview sessions with humor, insight and perspective, even in somber tones after an exhibition loss to USC, led by Eric Musselman, his former coach at Arkansas.

The 6-foot-5 guard, now in his sixth collegiate season at his fifth different school, has experienced plenty and it comes through when he answers questions from the media.

“Honestly it feels good because I’ve never really had a coach from the jump … he (Mark Few) put his entire faith into me to just be myself,” Battle said of his transition at GU. “The whole coaching staff, these guys (teammates) told me when I was being recruited they just needed me to be me.

“It’s been like a family atmosphere since I stepped on campus. It feels good to be part of this. I’m just happy to a Zag.”

It’s a two-way street. Battle arrived with a well-earned reputation of putting up a lot of points in a little amount of time. That’s been the case, but the 6-foot-5 guard also averages 5.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and shares the team lead with five steals.

He rang up 21 points in Friday’s 113-54 rout over UMass Lowell, but some of his best work was defending versatile forward Quinton Mincey, who came in averaging 23.5 points.

Mincey managed a team-high 10 points but misfired on all three 3-point attempts and committed six turnovers. Battle had three steals and Mincey, who had 24 free-throw attempts in his first two games, only had two vs. Gonzaga.

“He did a really nice job on No. 3 (Mincey),” Few said. “He’s a good player and somebody they look to score it, drive it, shoot it and back our guards down. He did a nice job there and it also didn’t affect his offense.”

Battle, who said before the season that his scoring binges have sometimes overshadowed his defensive contributions, embraced the challenge.

“Yeah, I guard,” he said. “I like that. Plus, I’m from Jersey. I don’t like nobody ever feeling like they can get off on me. I take that a little personal, but he’s a good player.”

The Zags face San Diego State in raucous Viejas Arena on Monday. Battle has seen a few venues in his prior tours of Big East, American Athletic and Southeastern conferences.

Asked the best atmosphere he’s played in, Battle mentioned Houston and Florida.

“That’s a good question,” he said. “I’m old, man, I played in lot of places so it’s kind of hard for me to think of places. It just feels good to go inside another arena and get a win and compete ultimately. They’re going to give us their best shot, we’re going to give them our best shot so whoever is victorious is victorious.

“The main thing is competing and playing Zag basketball.”

Lineup tweaks

The way Few and Hickman see it, Gonzaga’s starting five is really more like a starting eight. Michael Ajayi returned to the starting lineup Friday in place of Ben Gregg for the first time in the regular season, but Gregg ended up logging more minutes (20-plus) to the Pepperdine transfer’s 16-plus.

“Even with Benny coming off the bench, it feels a little weird but that’s just how deep our team is,” said Hickman, who didn’t start in the USC exhibition but has been in the first unit since. “I feel like we do have eight starters and they pick up right where we left off when the (starting) five go out.”

Gregg has been a spark plug as a sub and a difference-maker in 19 starts last season when Gonzaga hit its stride. He had seven points and 10 boards against UMass Lowell. Ajayi was effective, too, with six points, four boards, one steal and one assist.

“I’ve got a lot of guys who probably deserve to start, so it’s just shuffling through and all that,” he said. “Mike’s been great all year whether he’s coming off the bench he energizes us, whether it’s in practice, that’s who he is. He plays with great force and great joy. It’s interesting, both (Ajayi and Gregg) can kind of get you going.”

Few has followed through on his preseason promise to tinker with the rotation.

“They know in practice how even a lot of us are,” Few said. “They understand it. It’s incumbent on us, the staff, to keep putting these guys in the right spots, especially KB (Battle) and Mike, making sure they understand all the little nuances offensively and defensively and the terminology.”