Arkansas’ third and fourth transfer portal signees are offensive specialists. They both have clear concerns, but both fit needs on the roster.
Meet Khalif Battle
His bio. Battle is a 6’5 guard from Hillside, New Jersey, who is transferring from Temple. He’s played four college seasons but will use his COVID year as a grad transfer. He averaged 17.9 points and 3.6 rebounds per game for Temple this year, shooting 41% from the field and 35% from 3.
His game. Battle can play the 2 or the 3, but was mostly a shooting guard for the Owls this year. He had high usage (30%) and about half his shots were 3-pointers. He was also very good at getting fouled when he decided to drive (31% free throw usage). And his turnover rate of 15% was very good. Overall, he projects as a solid combo guard who can create his own shot from all three levels.
He has two main concerns: finishing and defense. In that sense, he’s similar to two other Hog signees – Keyon Menifield and Jeremiah Davenport – so we’ll see if the Hogs plan to coach these guys up. Battle’s 47% FG% inside the arc isn’t great, he’s a very poor rebounder (just 4.4 rebounds per 40 minutes), and his 1.3 kills per 40 minutes and 0.55 kills per personal foul are both terrible, suggesting a major lack of technical skill as a defender.
His grade. Battle grades at 78 overall. Like Menifield and Davenport, he graded as his team’s best player on offense (91), but its worst on defense (31). We’ll discuss the implications of this below. His offensive grade of 91 would be third-best on the Hogs, behind only Anthony Black (92) and Jordan Walsh (92).
Meet Jeremiah Davenport
His bio. Davenport is a 6’7 jumbo guard from Cincinnati who played for his hometown Bearcats. He averaged 9.1 points and 4.2 rebounds per game this year while shooting 35% from the floor. That was a bit of a regression from his 2022 season, when he averaged 13.4 points per game and shot 36% from 3.
His game. Davenport is more of a true shooting guard, as opposed to Battle as a high-usage combo guard. About three-fourths of Davenport’s shots are 3-pointers, and he’s a threat on catch-and-shoot 3s. His 3-point percentage fell to 33% this year after hitting 36% last year. He’s only moderate usage (19%), but there’s a lot to like here. His 8% turnover rate is almost impossibly low, and as you might expect for a tall guard, he’s a decent rebounder for his position (1.6 offensive rebounds per 40).
His grade. We got a little excited and accidentally tweeted out Davenport’s 2022 grades; unfortunately, his grades this season weren’t as good. He grades at 78 overall – same as Battle – with grades of 92 for offense and 28 for defense. As with Battle, the 92 on offense is obviously fantastic.
And yes, his defense is a concern. His on-floor team defensive rating was 102.7, worst among Cincinnati starters. He averaged just 1.8 kills per 40 and 0.68 kills per foul, only slightly better than Battle, but he’s punished more harshly by our grading system because Cincinnati was a better defensive team.
How do these guys fit?
There’s a clear pattern now with Menifield, Battle, and Davenport. All are offensive-minded guys who struggle with finishing and defense. But all are 3-point threats who don’t turn it over and can get to the line.
I think that Eric Musselman and staff believe they can coach up the finishing and defense, and that willingness to shoot 3s, avoiding turnovers, and drawing fouls are harder to coach and must be recruited. They’ve had enough guys cycle through the program as transfers that they’ve learned a lot about what remains consistent when players transfer and what can be improved. If you think of Arkansas’ four most successful transfers – I’ll go with JD Notae, Jalen Tate, Justin Smith, and Stanley Umude – all graded at their former schools as very good offensive players and mediocre-to-bad defenders. All four were also very good at avoiding turnovers. At Arkansas, they all avoided turnovers, and all four graded much higher on defense with the Hogs than they did at their former schools.
So there’s a gamble here in taking three low-graded defenders, but it’s a calculated gamble. If the staff can turn these three – or just two of them, really – into even competent defenders, then they’ll be great contributors.
Anything else in the portal?
Arkansas is now over by one scholarship, so one of Makhi Mitchell, Devo Davis, and Jordan Walsh won’t be back next year. My guess is Walsh, because if it’s Makhi, then the Hogs need another big man to replace him.
However, the signing of Tramon Mark makes me wonder if it’s actually Devo that’s gone, because if Devo comes back, the Hogs are going to have about six guys to play the 2 and 3 positions. Someone is going to be disappointed with their minutes next year.
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