NCAA Basketball: Top 10 players to wear jersey No. 21 in 2023-24 season

6. Raequan Battle (West Virginia)

As an underclassman, Battle was a role player at Washington, though not much came of his early college years. His career took a turn forward for the next two seasons as he became a major part of Montana state’s breakthrough success. During that time he was named Big Sky Sixth Man of the Year as a junior and Big Sky Tournament MVP as a senior before finding a new home at West Virginia in his fifth collegiate season.

His season wouldn’t start until late December due to waiting for an eligibility waiver, but Battle would make up for lost time with the Mountaineers, averaging 16.1 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. While this was a bit of a lost season for West Virginia, he assumed an important role as the team’s top scorer and most important playmaker. Battle played just 22 games and didn’t qualify in the Big 12 leaderboards, but his presence was certainly necessary for the program’s limited success.

Battle scored 29 points in each of his first two games with the Mountaineers, albeit still during nonconference play. A few weeks later he had a vital 23 points in an upset over Kansas and would score 28 points at Kansas State near the end of the season. This isn’t Battle’s fault at all, but West Virginia really scuffled in a strong Big 12, though Battle’s contributions were evident throughout the year.