Temple’s Khalif Battle withdraws from NBA draft and plans a return to Owls

Khalif Battle is returning to Temple. The guard announced on social media Wednesday afternoon that he’ll be returning for his junior season after spending the last two months testing the waters of the NBA draft process.

“The NBA is the ultimate goal,” Battle said. “So the draft was really trying to see where I was compared to other players across college basketball.”

Battle said he was approached by several teams about facilitating individual workouts, but said he denied all of them. After missing four months of basketball following foot surgery, and with only a couple of weeks to prepare, Battle said he feels he is at about 80%. Battle said he didn’t want to go into those workouts at anything below 100%.

Pulling from just 18 games of film over the last two seasons combined, team scouts and representatives from NBA front offices gave him feedback to take home.

Battle was told that NBA teams like his size and strength at 6-foot-5, 175 pounds. His scoring efficiency jumped off the page for talent evaluators, with the range in his jump shot being particularly impressive. And his athleticism, mixed with his crafty ability to finish at the rim with both hands through traffic, was also a point of emphasis.

It’s a small sample size of film considering that Battle dealt with two injuries, but through seven games this past season, he averaged a conference-leading 21.4 points, shooting an impressive 53.8% from the field, including 48.8% from deep.

Talent evaluators told Battle he needs to be a better leader on the floor.

“I’m emotional on the court,” Battle said. “They talked about that, like I can’t be so emotional, negatively. I wear my heart on my sleeve, so when I’m [ticked] off, everybody knows. That’s really what they were saying was maturity and they want to see me get after it on both ends.”

His rebounding numbers dipped from 6.4 per game in 11 games as a freshman to 3.9 in seven appearances in 2021-22. Scouts pointed out that they hope he can get that number back up with some consistency.

After getting all that feedback, Battle got right back into the gym, working out with Justin Lewis (Marquette), Ron Harper (Rutgers), Buddy Boeheim (Syracuse), and Tyson Etienne (Wichita State), among others.

“This past month, like the month of May, I felt like I was better than where I was when I got hurt,” Battle said. “I feel like I made a big jump, like I was ready to take the extra leap. But from the feedback I got, they want to see me go back to school and potentially make some noise with a strong chance of getting drafted next year.”

The native of Hillside, N.J., thinks his most notable progress has come as an on-ball guard. He has studied reading the floor as a pick-and-roll ballhandler.

» READ MORE: Temple needed a committee approach to replace Khalif Battle

In Battle’s 22-game absence, Damian Dunn took on a bulk of the scoring load. He averaged 11.1 points with Battle, then 16.7 without him.

The looming question heading into this season will be: How do two proven No. 1 scoring options fit together with only one ball? Battle said it will start with playing together on the same team in practice as much as possible.

“It’s just all about us playing our best at the same time. I don’t think we accomplished that in all the years we’ve been here,” Battle said. “I feel like if we play our best basketball together we’re a top-25 team in the country, especially with the bigs we just added. And I feel really, really comfortable with [Hysier Miller] at point guard running the show.”

Temple recently bolstered its frontcourt by way of the transfer portal, adding Kur Jongkuch (Northern Colorado), Jamille Reynolds (Central Florida), and Taj Thweatt (West Virginia).

“Just get ready for the show this year,” Battle said. “I’m going to give everybody a show this year.”