Former Montana State guard RaeQuan Battle is transferring to West Virginia, he announced on social media Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know:
- Battle averaged 17.7 points and 2.9 rebounds last season at Montana State, his second with the Bobcats.
- The 6-foot-5 wing has one year of eligibility remaining after starting his career at Washington. He spent two seasons in Seattle before transferring to Montana State ahead of the 2021-22 season.
- Battle ranked No. 12 on The Athletic’s list of best-available transfer players as of Wednesday.
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
How does Battle fit with the Mountaineers?
West Virginia ended up one of the big winners in last year’s cycle, and coach Bob Huggins has arguably outdone himself this go around. The one missing piece was a bucket-getter on the wing to replace Erik Stevenson, and he lands a legit scorer in Battle. The one hesitation we had in ranking him too high was it took until his fourth year to really pop and his numbers at Washington were just meh — averaged 4.8 points in two seasons. But Battle’s film pops.
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Huggins will also unleash a scorer like this, as he did with Stevenson, who averaged a career-best 15.4 points for the Mountaineers in his one season there. Now with Battle, Kerr Kriisa and Jesse Edwards, West Virginia is a team that I’d bet on spending most of the year in the Top 25. — Moore
Scouting report
Battle was a star this past season who made the All-Big Sky team and hung 27 points on Kansas State in the NCAA Tournament. He might have the most burst of any player in the portal. He shoots it really well off the bounce. He always catches it square to the basket and has a great shot fake and a quick first step.
He’s also the type of guy who can get his shot off in a phone booth. Montana State had him flying off screens and dribble hand offs. His shot looks a little herky-jerky, but it’s good at the release point, which is high. He made 35.1 percent of his 3s in two seasons at Montana State. He finishes well around the basket and is a good cutter as well. — Moore and Vecenie
Required reading
(Photo: Bob Donnan / USA Today)
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