Battle looking to close West Virginia career confident, consistent
West Virginia was one of the last schools to reach out to pursue guard RaeQuan Battle when he entered the transfer portal this past off-season.
Turns out in the end that didn’t matter much for the Montana State transfer.
Battle would visit the program and sign with the Mountaineers in large part because of the connections he forged with the coaching staff along with some ties to the program.
The Washington native knew two former West Virginia players from his home state in Emmitt Matthews and Erik Stevenson so he could pick their brains about the school.
Battle met Matthews the summer before he transferred and he was first introduced to Stevenson back in high school while the two eventually played together on the same team at Washington.
“We weren’t on the best team but I trusted him because we were at our lowest together,” he said.
Battle understood when he left his former program that there was a chance he wouldn’t be eligible and kept that in the back of his head. But given his circumstances, he was confident that he would receive a waiver in order to suit up for the Mountaineers this season.
“I believe my case was strong enough,” he said.
However, after a pair of denials by the NCAA, things looked grim for Battle with the season underway. And instead of starting the season with his team on the floor, the senior had to pour his energy into trying to support his teammates in other ways outside of the games.
“I never really was angry. I thought it was unfair,” he said.
In fact, Battle admitted that he spent a lot of time nightly thinking about his situation and putting his frustration into the practice floor.
“I was practicing like I was playing,” he said.
That was until a coalition of states, including West Virginia, filed a suit against the NCAA over their transfer rules. That led to Battle becoming eligible for the rest of the season and allowed him to take the floor for the Mountaineers after a long-winding journey to get there.
Battle has tried to make the most of this season despite it being limited to just 15 games so far this season. He has averaged 16.2 points and 4.3 rebounds and realizes that the end is near.
He even jokes that the first couple of games that he was on the floor he was trying to make up for lost time with all of the shots that he put up during that stretch.
“I have no room for error. Everybody else in the country is guaranteed those 35 games, 25 is all I get,” he said. “Just being confident and consistent is all.”
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