In Khalif Battle, Gonzaga found aura, attitude and someone with an undying appetite for March Madness
Mar. 19—"Khalif Battle is built for March."
That phrase — more of a declaration in six concise words — has been uttered at some point over the last few weeks by many within the guard's inner circle: close friends, family members, mentors, teammates, coaches, etc.
And, probably to the surprise of no one, Khalif Battle himself.
Older brother Tyus, a two-time alumnus of March Madness, hardly gets through a phone call anymore without hearing it, and the siblings communicate daily, if not multiple times every day.
"He's been telling me for weeks now," said Tyus, a former All-ACC standout who played under coach Jim Boeheim at Syracuse. "He said 'Khalif Battle is built for March.'"
Almost as if it's been on the guard's mind for six years.
Battle didn't know when or how he'd get there, nor did he imagine checking off one of the final items of his college bucket list in Spokane of all places. Mind you, this is someone who left his first college, Butler, located in Indianapolis, to be closer to his hometown of New Jersey. It required a substantial leap of faith to transfer to Arkansas, roughly a 3 1/2 -hour flight from Jersey, according to Battle's mother.
The idea of closing the final chapter of his college journey in the upper left corner of the country never occurred to Battle, either because those who know him describe him as East Coast to the core, or because he couldn't have identified Gonzaga on a map.
"I had no idea where Gonzaga was," Battle said. "I'm like, that's far, that's far. I don't even know how the time difference worked over here."
Battle's internal clock isn't the only thing the guard's had to adjust since touching down last summer. There's been sacrifice and hardship; moments where the guard has experienced soaring highs, followed by crushing lows that tried and tested his resilience.
Battle's settled into a sweet spot entering the most important stretch of his career. He's thriving on the court of late and considered to be a potential X-factor for No. 8 Gonzaga (25-8), which opens the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Thursday (1:30 p.m. PT, TBS) against No. 9 Georgia (20-12) at Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas.
Why does the guard feel he's set up for success over the next week? Two weeks? Three weeks? Why is he prepared to meet the biggest moment of his career on the sport's biggest stage? Why does Battle have the conviction to tell anyone and everyone willing to listen he's built for March?
"There's never a big game I don't show up for and I feel comfortable in big-time situations," Battle said roughly a half-hour after Gonzaga learned all the important details — seed, opponent, location — on Selection Sunday. "I think my energy and my excitement that I bring to the game, I think that's built for March. I've been waiting six years for it. I'm ready more than ever."
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The Battles are and always have been working-class citizens. Bus drivers, custodians, waitresses, insurance workers. Some went from employed, to unemployed, back to employed. Others found weekend work or evening jobs to support their children and grandchildren.
"My family, they were just hustlers," Battle said. "Everybody was a hustler."
It's allowed Battle to put his own "hustle" into perspective.
"For me," he says of basketball, "this is like a permanent vacation."
Battle's late grandmother, Catherine, was the standard-bearer for hard work and sacrifice. Her full-time job was at a middle school in New Jersey, where she worked as a custodian. Four days a week, she spent evenings at JCPenney department store. When expenses piled up around the holidays, she often added a third job.
"Khalif's pretty similar. When he wants something, he doesn't want to borrow, he wants to work and make money," father Gary Battle said. "... That's just the determination factor they both share, he definitely got that from her."
When Gary and mother Daniella went to their jobs, Catherine watched Khalif, Tyus and their autistic cousin, Antoine, in the summer. While she cleaned classrooms, Catherine locked Khalif and Tyus inside the school gym. Full-court games to 100 points went on for hours until she clocked out in the afternoon.
"I probably would be doing a whole bunch of stuff if it wasn't for her, so I appreciate her and without her I'm nothing because she started this all for me," Khalif said. "... But she told me I had a gift for this thing and I have to start taking it seriously."
Bunch of other stuff being what exactly?
"I wasn't a terrible kid ... but they couldn't really get me in the gym," he said. "I'd rather be in the park or chasing around girls and doing all sorts of other stuff."
Gary Battle was a standout college player who scored 1,959 career points at Division II University of New Haven, entering the school's athletics Hall of Fame in 1999. Gary's still proud of the All-American recognition he received in 1989-90 — "don't forget that piece," he jokes — and doesn't miss a chance to razz Khalif for falling two points shy of the single-game career-high he had at Colonia High, scoring 46 points in one game.
"You're still a little short," Gary will remind Khalif.
Gary launched "Battle Basketball Camps" for promising young players in the area. Those eventually funneled into the AAU teams the brothers played for. It didn't take long to identify common traits between Gary's game and Khalif's: a high release point on the jump shot, unparalleled verticality, explosiveness going downhill.
"Me and my assistant coaches were always like, 'I bet he scores within 30 seconds,'" Gary recalled. "Soon as he gets the ball, going up and it goes right in."
Khalif's on-court persona is a blend of his dad's edge and his grandma's fire, with a degree of self-confidence neither can probably match. Modesty doesn't exactly run in the family.
Khalif describes himself as "hard-headed." Tyus calls his brother "authentically him." On the court, he only knows one speed.
"I'd say he's just a less contained version of myself," Gary said. "I think he gets a lot from me, I think he gets a lot from his grandmother."
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Everything else comes from big brother. Khalif characterizes Tyus as his "superhero," but residing in the shadow of a Syracuse legend isn't easy and became even harder once the comparisons started surfacing.
There was one in particular that ate at Khalif for months. Following a tournament, a "low-level" prep basketball website in Jersey posited in a recap that Khalif would never reach Tyus' heights. He took a screenshot and at the suggestion of a relative, eventually made it his screensaver.
All the motivation Khalif ever needed came from flipping open his LG enV2. (Yes, Battle still remembers the model).
"That tore me apart," he said. "That also went into my grind and when I used to be working out three, four, five times a day, just because I always had the dream."
Tyus describes his game as more methodical, more subdued and less emotional than Khalif's. The two-time All-ACC honoree took Syracuse to the Sweet 16 in 2018 after leading the nation in minutes played during his sophomore season. He got an NBA shot with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but has mostly bounced between professional stops overseas.
Tyus is currently back in Jersey rehabbing injuries to both knees, waiting for his next professional opportunity and traveling to watch Khalif and younger sister GiGi, a talented prep prospect who has college offers from every major conference.
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The brothers' Jersey upbringing meant blacktop basketball — hours of it every day against strangers who were protective of their court time, driving up the level of competition and heightening the stakes of pickup games.
"When you're from Jersey, your confidence, your aura, you just feel differently," Khalif said. "You've always got something to prove, especially on the basketball court. Because in Jersey you play on the blacktop. If you lose a game, you might not get on for like the next 10 games."
Separate 1-on-1 matchups between the brothers came with the expected tension. Khalif's win-loss record in that setting is still a point of debate within the family.
"(Khalif) said, 'One day mom I'm going to beat Tyus 1 on 1 and then I'll feel real good because I'm getting even better," mother Daniella said. "One day that happened and he ran home and said, 'I did it ma, I beat Tyus. I beat Tyus, finally.'"
Give Tyus the floor and it's a different story.
"I don't really remember this. I was saying I was coming off injury and we played 1-on-1 a couple years ago," he said. "In my recollection, it was a 1-on-1 based off I have to stay on defense and he has to stay on offense, so I was trying to get my defensive skills together again. He claims it was make it, take it and we were switching off."
That account was relayed back to Khalif on Selection Sunday.
"He lying, he lying. But that's just how competitive my family is," he said. "I definitely whooped that (butt) in 1 on 1, He's supposed to say that and I'm going to give him the credit. He's the only person that can ever get me in a matchup in 1 on 1. Everybody else ain't no matchup for me."
Gonzaga teammate Michael Ajayi walks by Battle's conversation with a reporter. The guard can't help himself.
"Especially not Mike Ajayi," he said. "He don't want no island work."
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Two coaching stops ago, Gonzaga assistant RJay Barsh was on Leon Rice's staff at Boise State, working his way up the DI ladder. Two playing stints ago, Battle was on Aaron McKie's roster at Temple — a dynamic guard steering the Owls' offense through the early stages of his redshirt sophomore season.
Boise State and Temple both took early losses at the 2021 Charleston Classic, so the Broncos and Owls matched up day two of the Thanksgiving week tournament in South Carolina.
With a 24-hour turnaround, Rice handed game scouting duties to Barsh. That meant a full report on Temple and, therefore, a dissertation on the player who probably had the best chances to ruin the Broncos' day.
Barsh pulled up Battle's game log and two stat lines stuck out: 22 points against Maryland Eastern Shore in the season opener, 26 points and five 3-pointers in game two against USC. The film popped even more than the numbers.
Barsh's scouting work was solid enough — the Broncos won 82-62, but they didn't exactly corral Battle, the only Temple player to score in double figures with 19 points on 5 of 7 from the field, 3 of 4 from the 3-point line and 6 of 6 from the free throw line.
"His joy and just like how explosive he was just reminded me of the energy I loved on the floor when I was a head coach," Barsh said. "From that game, I always just tracked him because I love watching him play."
That's the consensus most have after seeing it in person. Unfortunately, Battle's gifts with a basketball have been overshadowed by a negative perception that's surrounded him at times. College athletes are able to move freely now, but a sixth-year college basketball player who's been at four schools still raises questions.
"You get a bad rap from the outside looking in without knowing the full scope," Barsh said.
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Battle's freshman season at Butler would've culminated with a postseason of some sort, but the 22-win Bulldogs didn't get to see it through as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The uncertainty of the pandemic and a desire to play closer to home prompted Battle to transfer to Temple.
A hamstring injury sidelined the guard for the first five games of his sophomore season, pushing his debut back to Jan. 16. Three games after facing Barsh and BSU the next year, Battle suffered a season-ending fractured fifth metatarsal. He was the fourth-leading scorer in the AAC the following season, averaging 17.9 ppg, but didn't play in Temple's final five games. Battle has disputed news reports that claim he left the team voluntarily.
The guard resurfaced in Arkansas in 2023-24. In and out of the starting lineup, Battled averaged 29.5 ppg over his last seven games and after a Senior Night win over LSU, he told reporters he had every intention to return the following the season. But that option disappeared when coach Eric Musselman left for USC.
Battle had to pivot again. One more chance to change the narrative.
"Clearly he's a winner," Gary Battle said. "But clearly basketball's a team sport."
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Accustomed to the skyscrapers, bustling sidewalks and noisy streets of New Jersey, Khalif might as well have respawned in a new world when he and Gary arrived at Gonzaga for his official visit.
He took everything in. The fresh Northwest air. Blue skies. Unobscured views of downtown Spokane. Students sprawled out in grassy quad areas, books and laptops open.
It didn't take long for Khalif and Gary to find a frisbee game. Later on they were in the dorm halls running the ping pong tables, taking on all challengers.
"I was a little too competitive, I had to calm down," Battle laughed. "I realized the West Coast was a little more relaxed."
Mark Few and Gonzaga's coaching staff were intentional in their meetings with Battle, giving them a good sense of how he'd fit in and mesh with the returning players without making conversations feel too intense or businesslike.
The coaches were trying to pitch Battle on Gonzaga, but he was already one step ahead.
"He was barely listening to coach Few, what he had to say, he was already thinking about playing with them," Gary said. "He was already sold."
Adapting hasn't been nearly as straightforward. Battle's been a ball-dominant guard at other schools, accustomed to creating for himself and scoring out of isolation sets. Few's offense is predicated on ball-screen reads, duck-ins, off-ball movement and other concepts Battle wasn't as familiar with.
Battle had a few fine scoring nights, a handful of memorable plays and a jaw-dropping alley-oop dunk against Arizona State that got him on ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 reel, but things weren't coming easy. Battle's struggles came to a head after the team returned from the Battle 4 Atlantis. Self-doubt had never been part of Battle's vocabulary, but now the guard was questioning himself at every turn.
It required a one-on-one with Gonzaga's head coach. Behind the baseline, first row of the Kennel, Battle and Few found two seats and aired everything out.
"I was kind of in a funk where I was just like, I was thinking a little too much, I was worried about some of the wrong things and me and coach had a heart to heart," Battle said. "We had a heart to heart and then we figured it out and he just told me to be the best defender I could be out there."
Battle's averaged 13.2 points for the Zags and delivered a career's worth of highlights in a single season, but his favorite moments at Gonzaga haven't always been the quick scoring flurries or acrobatic lob dunks.
Satisfaction has come in smaller victories — nondescript plays the average fan wouldn't notice or the mastery of offensive concepts that Battle spent weeks and months trying to grasp, often failing a dozen times before he could succeed.
Barsh recalls a post entry pass that Battle was struggling to get the hang of. When he finally nailed it in a game, Battle emitted a level of emotion and joy that would've made someone think he'd won a national championship. All for one tally in the assist column.
"He finally got it done and you would've thought Santa Claus was coming into the gym and it was Christmas the way he was jumping up and down because he made a simple play," Barsh said. "Just the excitement from a ball-screen breakdown and doing it correctly. ... Most people wouldn't have caught it, but it was something he was struggling with it and he wanted to prove he could make some of those reads."
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Battle's acclimation period off the court with his new teammates was much shorter than the one on it. The player is electric. The human being is a living, breathing comedy act.
"He's got such a swagger to him and such a good personality," assistant coach Stephen Gentry said. "I call him Stephen A. Battle (after ESPN debate show host Stephen A. Smith). He's always trying to stir something up."
In one season, there's already a hit list of Battle's smoldering-hot sports takes:
"He thinks Magic (Johnson) is overrated," Dusty Stromer said. "That's definitely a crazy take, crazy take."
"He hates LeBron (James) and I love LeBron," Nolan Hickman said. "He always gives a random excuse for why he hates him. He runs with his feet out or something funny."
"He thinks Ja Morant is better than Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander) and he's wyling," Ryan Nembhard said. "That's just offensive to anyone that watches basketball."
"(He says) Bird's better than Magic, which is cool," Graham Ike said. "We've actually sat and watched Larry Bird and Magic Johnson highlights day before games."
Battle would rather steer clear of the NBA takes for now, reasoning "I need all these teams to be interested in me." He has an NFL one locked and loaded, though.
"I'm going to say Shedeur Sanders in the next five years, if he gets drafted to the Giants, is going to win us two championships," Battle said. "If we get Shedeur, the whole world needs to watch out because we're going to be the best team in the league."
The "hot takes" are just one glimpse into the guard's eccentric personality.
When Battle is asked about his mother's account of him sleeping with a basketball as a child, he needs to correct the record.
"I still do," Battle said. "That's my girlfriend."
The ball is printed with $100 bills — "Benjamin Franklins all over it," he said — and rarely leaves Battle's sight. Teammate Emmanuel Innocenti, who lives one floor below in the same building, has sent noise complaints via text, pleading for Battle to stop dribbling late at night.
"E-man gets mad at me," he laughed.
Battle's learned a thing or two about the world of business through NIL (Name Image Likeness) opportunities and he likes to engage his father in conversations about finance.
"If you buy something with value, you can sell it, you can trade it, you can do something with it," Battle said. "If you buy something just to buy something, that's just a waste. It's like picking a girl I think. Pick a girl with value."
On the one hand, Battle's protective of his money — he told reporters earlier in the year he needed to keep his "chicken," a slang term for cash, when Mark Few revealed the team was fining players for technical fouls — but others classify him as a big spender.
For nearly five months, Battle tried to persuade Ajayi to purchase his first designer shoe. Ajayi successfully resisted an attempt in the Bahamas and others throughout the year, but the forward eventually broke in San Francisco, splurging on a pair of Balenciagas late in the year.
"That might be my first and last pair," Ajayi said.
When Gary visits Spokane, the two like to visit luxury vehicle retailers in the area — "dealership hopping" — and test-drive cars, with no intent of making a purchase.
"Khalif loves cars, so we get behind a Porsche," Gary said. "I tell him he's got beer money and wine taste."
The big spender is also a generous giver.
Battle's shoe collection grew so large at one point that sneakers would fall from storage racks in the family's garage. He started giving them away, often to friends who didn't have the same financial means. During an interview at Arkansas last year, Battle said he used NIL earnings to help pay off his mother's debt.
Daniella's favorite gift is a Pandora bracelet, purchased years ago when Tyus was still in school. The jewelry piece, made of sterling silver, contains heart-shaped charms, basketball emblems and other tokens from the boys' college hoops journey.
Khalif surprised his mom during a recent visit to Spokane for Senior Night. The two were strolling the River Park Square mall when Khalif led Daniella to a Pandora store and said they had to complete the bracelet. Khalif purchased a letter "Z" and a navy blue charm commemorating his final college chapter.
"That melted my heart," Daniella said. "... It's a remembrance for me to see where they started from and where they're going to end. ... My goal is to keep it as a family thing going. So the next girl. Either one of them, when they have their daughter — praise god if they do — it'll go to them to finish it off. ... It's a beautiful thing."
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All sides of Battle were on display last week at the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas.
After a semifinal win over San Francisco, Battle implored teammate Ben Gregg to "say something nice about me," when a reporter approached the forward in the locker rooom. So Gregg obliged.
"He's the best ever, man," Gregg jokes. "He's Michael Jordan in the flesh in a Gonzaga jersey."
Twenty-four hours later, after Gonzaga captured the WCC title with a 58-51 win over nemesis Saint Mary's — a result that probably doesn't happen without Battle's 14 points and definitely doesn't happen without his five steals — Gregg went into more depth about his teammate. How he's changed himself, how he's impacted winning and what's still possible for both Battle and the Zags as they get set for the Big Dance.
"He's a Gonzaga guy now. He's a Gonzaga guy," Gregg said. "At first, he probably wasn't. He was still trying to adjust like everyone is who transfers in here, but he's figured it out and I think sky's the limit for him and he's helping us out in March."
Battle will likely finish his senior season with the lowest scoring average of his career (in seasons where he averaged more than 20 minutes per game), but it's been a fairly easy sacrifice to make for someone who's been able to experience a variety of firsts over the last 10 days.
"It's not all on him, he's just never really won," Gentry said. "... He was the first guy up to that net, cutting it down, and I think he really just appreciates those things and really, really values it. That kind of filters down to these other guys that are maybe a little bit numb to it."
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After the WCC championship, Battle peeled out of the postgame handshake line early to track down Few. Wrapping both arms around the coach, Battle's embrace may have lasted the length of a shot-clock violation. The guard repeatedly told Few, "thank you coach, thank you coach," before finally letting go.
"I think especially this last month, maybe it's because he sees his career winding down, he's really stepped it up," Few said on Sunday. "We've been on him to be more aggressive on the offensive end, but his attention to detail on the defensive end and rebounding had stood out to me."
Later that night, Battle and family members went out to dinner in Vegas, reflecting on the year that was and the memories still to be made. Now down to the final games, minutes and moments of a college career that often felt like it wouldn't end, Battle voiced to his father, "I wish I had one more year with (Few)."
A handful of moments with his coach and Gonzaga teammates at March Madness will have to suffice. He has something in store for that, too.
"I want to be the only Jersey guy holding a trophy at the end of this March Madness," Battle said. "I want the bragging rights."
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