Khalif Battle describes his performance in Missouri win

Khalif Battle was a man on a mission in Saturday’s win over Missouri, finishing the win with 42 points and on just 15 total shot attempts.

That total is currently the second-most points ever scored by a Razorback in an SEC game, and the highest in over 30 years, falling just one point short of the record in an SEC game set by Todd Day at 43 points back in 1992. Battle also recorded a top-10 scoring performance in the history of the program as well, with those 42 points ranking seventh on the all-time single-game scoring last for Arkansas.

In the postgame press conference, Battle could hardly believe what he had accomplished.

“I don’t know, it still hasn’t really sunk in that I had, you know, the amount of points that I had,” he shared. But of course, it’s not the points that really matter to him, it’s the victory for his team that was the ultimate goal on Saturday.

“It’s a great feeling, but it’s even better that we got the win. So, if I would have had 40 and we would have lost, nobody would have even remember that. So it feels good.”

Battle really had his jumper working for him on Saturday, and with Missouri’s defense set up in a zone at times, he was getting to fire away from 3 over and over again.

“You know, we came out — I think we shot like four threes early and coach has re-emphasized, you know, being in zone. So, you know, that was the game plan, but you know, we got hot from 3 at the same time, so it worked.”

Arkansas typically isn’t a good 3-point shooting team. But if you’re going to leave Khalif Battle wide open each possession, well, then maybe the Razorbacks will knock down a few of them.

Later on in his time at the podium, Battle was asked if he could feel such a performance coming in the leadup. He says:

“I don’t think anybody ever feels that. You want to just, you know, have a career night. I mean, my work doesn’t change. I’m still, you know, always in the gym. I’m still going hard in practice, still confident I can go 0 for 20 and I’m still the same, I still feel confident. That don’t really faze me, and I just had a career night and we won, so it feels good.”

That win is of utmost importance for Khalif Battle, even beyond his own great night. And the Hogs sure did need that one to maintain any sliver of a hope of making the NCAA Tournament.