The Gonzaga Bulldogs had a solid 2023-24 season. They finished with an overall record of 27-8 and 14-2 in West Coast Conference play. The Bulldogs powered through the WCC Tournament defeating the No. 1 seed Saint Mary's Gaels in the title game and then advanced to the Sweet 16 where they fell to Purdue. With Gonzaga's eyes set to next season now, they just added a major impact player in the transfer portal in former Arkansas wing Khalif Battle as per Joe Tipton of On3 Sports.

Khalif Battle had been one of the top remaining players in the transfer portal and Gonzaga certainly bolstered their roster with this addition. Battle is entering what will be his final season of college basketball eligibility. Battle chose the Bulldogs over offers from Kansas State and Villanova.

He began his college basketball career at Butler during the 2019-20 season. He didn't make much of an impact as a freshman, averaging only 3.0 points in around 11 minutes of play. He ended up transferring to Temple after one season.

Battle spent three seasons as Temple and became one of the top players in the American Athletic Conference. He was limited to only seven games during the 2021-22 season due to a season ending injury which forced him to redshirt the season. That's why he has one more year of eligibility despite having already been on a roster for five seasons.

Battle transferred to Arkansas following the 2022-23 season. This past year, he appeared in 32 games for the Razorbacks including 13 starts at a little over 24 minutes per game. He averaged 14.8 points per game, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists with splits of 40.6 percent shooting from the field, 35.3 percent shooting from the three point line and 87.3 percent shooting from the free throw line.

Gonzaga is set to return the majority of last season's team

Pepperdine Waves guard Michael Ajayi (1) is defended by Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Nolan Hickman (11) in the second half at Firestone Fieldhouse.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

With the transfer portal dominating college basketball, it's not uncommon to see teams lose several players, key players, each offseason. But the Bulldogs have largely been unaffected by the portal. The only losses they had were deep bench reserves in Luka Krajnovic and Pavle Stosic. They also lost Anton Watson who was out of college basketball eligibility.

But Khalif Battle was the second pick for Gonzaga in the transfer portal. The Bulldogs had already added former Pepperdine wing Michael Ajayi. Ajayi was one of the top players in the WCC last season in his first year of NCAA Division 1 basketball.

Ajayi played his first two seasons of college basketball at the junior college level at Pierce College in Washington. He transferred to Pepperdine for his junior season. Last year he appeared in 33 games, all starts, for the Waves at a little over 34 minutes per game.

He averaged 17.2 points per game, 9.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists with splits of 46.7 percent shooting from the field, 47 percent shooting from the three point line and 70.9 percent shooting from the free throw line.

Alongside their new additions, Gonzaga will also be bringing back eight of their top rotation players from last season including Graham Ike, Ben Gregg, Braden Huff, Jun Seok Yeo, Ryan Nembhard, Nolan Hickman, Steele Venters and Dusty Stromer.