Half the Battle is Getting RaeQuan Accurate and Contributing again

RaeQuan Battle is not a patient person.

When he goes in a game for the University of Washington, the 6-foot-5 sophomore from Tulalip, Washington, fires up his first shot practically before he's pulled off his warm-ups.

He has a shooter's mindset.

He's got a nice-looking shot.

He wants to let it fly.

Unfortunately, Battle can't put the ball in the basket nearly enough to stay on the floor. Mirroring his 5-20 team, this willowy, athletic guard has suffered through a horrendous 25.6 percent shooting effort, an icy 20.4 from 3-point range.

From one season to the next, this Native American athlete from the Tulalip tribe has gone from being this overly promising player to largely forgotten.

Caught up in a very real sophomore slump, Battle has appeared in just two games over the past month.

He's had his games played drop from 20 last season to just 14, his starts decrease from 3 to only 1.

"Last year, in my first start I was hot," Battle said of an Oregon State game in which he hit 4 of 6 shots, 3 of 5 from behind the line. "It just happens in the basketball world. You don't always come out perfect."

So what happens to him?

With the Huskies off for 11 days from its regular-season finale to resuming play in the Pac-12 tournament, we're sizing up the play for each of the 11 players who has received minutes with a game on the line this season. Ten scholarship recipients and 7-foot-4 walk-on Riley Sorn. This is the second installment.

Battle, again, is an impatient guy.

The ball needs to come out of his hands for him to be happy.

He needs to get off the bench for that to happen.

Will he hang with a UW program in an agonizing two-year downturn that obviously has affected his individual progress?

While it's on Battle to get his game under control, the Husky coaching staff also bears a lot of responsibility for making him an upbeat, productive player.

Mike Hopkins should convince Battle that this was merely his redshirt season, that it didn't count, that he has three years remaining to become the shooting star that he pines to be. The NCAA, of course, is giving everyone a free pass on this season because of the pandemic. Battle should be an obvious recipient.

If Hopkins can't convince him of that, expect Battle to transfer out and look for a fresh start and a place where his shot begins to drop again.

It would be a shame for the Huskies to lose a talent such as his, but he needs to be reined in and turned into a disciplined and effective player on the order of Cory Kispert at Gonzaga.

Battle turned in five double-figure games as a true freshman. It's been just two this season.

In December, this always offensive-minded guy was at his best against Oregon, supplying a career-high 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting, 4 for 6 from 3-point range, over 21 minutes in a 74-71 defeat. He did this coming off the bench.

He hasn't had more than 8 points since. In fact, he's made just 4 treys total in the two months following that magical day for him.

Meantime, Battle sits and sits and sits, his shooting arm tucked deep into its holster.

Dan Dickau, Errol Knight, Nigel Goss-Williams and Michael Carter each were guards who grew impatient with the UW, left and flourished elsewhere, with Dickau becoming an All-American player at Gonzaga.

The 6-foot-5 Carter, with size and ability not unlike this inactive UW backcourt player, currently averages 16 points per game for Long Beach State. He played 17 games for Hopkins' first team in 2017-18, got antsy and transferred out.

The Huskies are going to hate it if RaeQuan Battle does this, too.