WICHITA, Kan. — It was a fun day for Khalif Battle and Gonzaga.
Battle scored 24 points, Nolan Hickman added 18, and eighth-seeded Gonzaga of the West Coast Conference routed ninth-seeded Georgia of the Southeastern Conference in an NCAA tournament pairing of Bulldogs at Intrust Bank Arena.
Battle went 9-for-13 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds in his first game in the Big Dance in his sixth season of college basketball. Now a graduate student, he played for Butler, Temple and Arkansas before joining Gonzaga’s Bulldogs (26-8) — also known as the Zags.
He gave Gonzaga coach Mark Few a high-five as he ran down the court after making one of his four 3-pointers in the Midwest Region matchup.
“It felt good; I can’t put it into words,” Battle said. “You’ve kind of been watching this as a kid. … So to be dancing with these guys is special. And I’d run through a wall for them any day after I have the jersey on. So it’s been special for me, and I just want to keep on dancing.”