Texas Basketball: 3 new portal targets the Horns contacted this week

A busy time for newly-hired full-time head coach Rodney Terry and the Texas basketball program in the NCAA Transfer Portal will continue this week as there are quite a few targets this staff is prioritizing. Texas is also waiting on one big decision from a potential returning upperclassman in the frontcourt unit for next season.

It would be huge if Terry and the Longhorns could get senior big man Dylan Disu back for one more season as he is the only player from last year’s squad that has an outstanding decision to make.

In the meantime, though, the Longhorns are prioritizing some big-time targets in the transfer portal that could help rebuild this roster ahead of the 2023-24 season. Texas will host a couple of key portal targets on campus this week, including the former Virginia Cavaliers redshirt junior transfer center Kadin Shedrick.

RaeQuan Battle and the new priority portal targets Texas basketball has made contact with early this week

Terry and the Longhorns also made contact with some new targets that emerged in the portal in the last seven or 10 days. Here’s a look at three of those new portal targets early this week that the Longhorns made contact with recently.

RaeQuan Battle, SG/SF

The newest portal entrant the Longhorns are pursuing early this week is the former Montana State Bobcats ad Washington Huskies senior wing and All-Big Sky First-Team selection RaeQuan Battle. The reigning Big Sky Tournament MVP reportedly (per a tweet from Jon Rothstein on April 17) made contact with Texas, among many other schools, over the weekend.

Some of the other schools that are interested in Battle’s services out of the portal are the Oklahoma Sooners, LSU Tigers, Texas Tech Red Raiders, Kansas State Wildcats, Oregon Ducks, Alabama Crimson Tide, and UCLA Bruins, among many other suitors.

Battle immediately became one of the most highly sought-after players in the portal after his name surfaced on the transfer market last weekend. He’s coming off a career season at Montana State where he led the Bobcats to their second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and two straight Big Sky Tournament crowns.

Battle was Montana State’s leading scorer last season, averaging nearly 18 points per game on 47 percent shooting from the field and 35 percent from deep.

So, what could Battle bring to the table for the Longhorns out of the transfer portal this offseason?

The 6-foot-5 and 185-pound fourth-year wing would bring an adept veteran scorer that would bring a lot of experience and steadiness to the locker room for Texas. Battle has more than 100 games played under his belt in his collegiate career.

Battle could also help to replace some of the vast amounts of production the Longhorns are losing in the wing/forward rotation this offseason. Texas is losing more than 30 points per game, a dozen rebounds, and a half-dozen assists between four of the departing forwards and wings this offseason (Timmy Allen, Sir’Jabari Rice, Dillon Mitchell, and Christian Bishop).

I also like the fit for Battle as a versatile wing that can score the ball in a variety of different ways for the Longhorns hypothetically. Battle is adept at scoring the ball in transition, running the pick-and-roll as a secondary facilitator, and spotting up with a dangerous jump shot.

He could give Texas a true wing playmaker and someone that can push the pace in transition as the ball handler or the runner.

Battle is a really intriguing portal target for the Longhorns, especially after Terry and his staff missed on the former USC Trojans priority junior shooting guard Reese Dixon-Waters to the San Diego State Aztecs last week.