Dillon Battie commits to Temple
The way Dillon Battie sees it, Temple is just one or two players away from being the program that routinely played in the NCAA Tournament and became a tough out in March.
And after considering more than 15 offers from programs like Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Washington, Battie knew he wanted to be one of those players.
The 6-foot-8, 215-pound forward from Texas’ Lancaster High School announced his verbal commitment to Temple Tuesday afternoon, becoming the first player from the 2024 class to offer a verbal pledge to first-year head coach Adam Fisher and his staff.
After taking an official visit to Temple during the weekend of Sept. 23, Battie visited Washington State and knew he would be deciding soon after.
He kept coming back to Temple and informed the staff recently of his decision before announcing Tuesday.
“I think I always liked them,” Battie told OwlScoop.com Tuesday prior to announcing his decision. “I think I just wanted to do my research and make sure that I was making the right leap, because it's always a risk. Anywhere you go, it’s always a gamble. But I was like, I feel like the odds were my favor here.
“I really want to play. I want to be effective. At some schools, they’d be like, ‘Hey, you'll come in. You'll do this. We want you as a sophomore. I want someone who wants me now.”
Indeed, Temple will be getting a player in Battie who should be ready to contribute right away as a freshman next season. He averaged 17 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two blocks per game for a Lancaster team that advanced to the Texas 5A Regional finals last March. Battie said he averaged between 10 and 12 points per game playing for a loaded Team Trae Young AAU squad this summer that included Oklahoma State commit Carlsheon Young (No. 77 nationally in the 2025 class), Colorado commit Doryan Onwuchekwa (No. 83 in the 2024 class) and 3-star class of 2024 guard Ketraleus “Bo” Aldredge.
Battie describes himself as a versatile stretch three with an improved shot and a 40-inch vertical leap.
And if there’s any player in the 2024 class who knows about Temple’s legacy and what the Owls are capable of in the future, it’s Battie. His father, Derrick Battie, was a four-year starter for Temple from 1992 to 1996 under the late Hall of Fame coach John Chaney and was a valuable forward who played on four straight NCAA Tournament teams, including the group that advanced to the Elite Eight in 1993.
Battie’s uncle, Tony Battie, played 14 seasons in the NBA, including the last two of his career with the Sixers, after becoming the fifth overall pick in the 1997 NBA Draft out of Texas Tech.
Dillon Battie said his father is elated with his decision but also encouraged him to make his own decision.
“He said, ‘I’d love for you to be an Owl,’” Dillon Battie said. “I’ve got all these other choices, and he was like, ‘Whatever your decision is the decision you got to make and you live with,’ and I believe it. It just happened to come down to the school that really wanted to be at just happened to be his school.”
Derrick Battie counts NBA Hall of Famer Paul Pierce among his best friends, and Dillon Battie considers him an uncle. Pierce even retweeted one of Battie’s highlight reels earlier this month and watched several of his AAU games this past summer in Las Vegas.
With his college decision out of the way, Battie will sign his National Letter of Intent in November and continue to work on his game as he hopes to get Lancaster back into the mix for contending for a 5A state championship.
“I think I'm going to work on continuing to be more efficient from the three,” Battie said. “Defense, for sure. Defending, being faster. Being able to move at higher speeds, getting in transition, using my athleticism, just basically tuning up everything that I've been doing, making it a professional-grade game.”
And he’s always up for a little healthy competition with his father when it comes to creating a legacy at Temple.
“I want to one up him,” Dillon Battie said with a laugh.