‘I think he’s in a good place.’ Khalif Battle makes statements with scoring, defense in Gonzaga’s 96-68 win over LMU
LOS ANGELES – Khalif Battle’s footwear selection initially caught the attention of assistant Brian Michaelson in a hallway near the visitor’s locker room after Gonzaga’s 96-68 victory at Loyola Marymount Saturday night. Two inquisitive reporters followed up to gather more information on the guard’s fashion choice during postgame interviews at Gersten Pavilion.
“These are my monster slippers,” Battle explained, pointing at the black, fur-coated slippers with five metal claws poking out of the toe box – a model of the “Black Bear Claw Mules” from New York City-based apparel company Bravest Studios, located not far from Battle’s hometown of Hillside, New Jersey. “When I wear these, I know I’m having a game.”
Battle pounded his chest after tough finishes at the offensive end, howled near halfcourt when he forced a turnover on LMU’s first possession coming out of halftime and made a handful of loud statements – both with play and attire – during Gonzaga’s third West Coast Conference win, a resounding road result against a quality LMU team that dispatched Oregon State 82-61 two days earlier.
During his short time at Gonzaga, Battle has quickly earned a reputation as an explosive scorer with a dynamic personality away from the court. That might explain how Battle arrived at a season-high 26 points in 25 minutes on Saturday, and also why he arrived at a postgame interview wearing the eye-catching bear claw slippers, when most other GU teammates left the gym in traditional sneakers or rubber sandals.
“Once he’s hot, you can’t stop him,” Gonzaga teammate and fellow transfer Michael Ajayi said. “All he needs is one, two shots to go in and then after that he just blacks out and from there he goes off. I already know, he’s my best friend on the team. We do a lot and we get in the gym together, so I already know what he’s capable of.”
Gonzaga coach Mark Few has felt there’s another element to Battle’s game, encouraging the veteran guard to bottle up the quick-twitch athleticism and tenacity he willingly shows on the offensive end and apply it to the other side of the floor.
“Coach challenged us, especially me, to be better defensively,” Battle said. “So I just wanted to disrupt and other things. Get some steals and deflections. It was a great team effort and we had a great game plan, so shout out to the coaches for that.”
It’s been a seasonlong homework assignment for Battle, but one that was especially drilled by Gonzaga’s coaching staff on Monday, when two Pepperdine guards combined to score 51 points, attacking the Bulldogs’ backcourt most of the night while threatening to pull off a major upset at Firestone Fieldhouse.
Battle was better on that end during Thursday’s win against a struggling Portland team and possibly at his best on Saturday against LMU, guarding aggressively on the perimeter, keeping the Lions’ bigger guards and wings in front of him and routinely coming up with steals and deflections to lead Gonzaga’s fastbreak.
Battle’s three steals matched a season high and were just shy of the career-high four steals he had during a 2022-23 game against Maryland Eastern Shore while playing at Temple.
“Steals, the steals,” Few emphasized. “I told him afterward, his defense where he was actively making plays and not getting lost was as big a part as those points. I think he’s in a good place, we’ve got to keep him there. It’s been hard. Sometimes you get one up and one down and it’s kind of a juggling act.”
Battle’s 26 points, topping his previous season-high of 21 (Pepperdine, Connecticut, UMass Lowell), came on 12 of 14 from the field and 4 of 5 from the 3-point line. He’s now averaging 19 points per game in WCC play and 13.2 on the season.
“We haven’t really been shooting the ball well and we lost a lot of big games by close margins,” Battle said. “So we’re not going to shoot like that for the rest of the year. Everybody on this team puts a lot of work in, coaches are invested in getting us better in skill development so we’re going to keep improving as the season goes on and I’m just excited to see what happens.”