Former Utah Basketball F Riley Battin Transferring To California Baptist
Mar 30, 2022, 3:35 PM | Updated: 4:28 pm
(Photo courtesy of Utah Athletics)
(Photo courtesy of Utah Athletics)
SALT LAKE CITY – Former Utah basketball forward Riley Battin will be playing closer to home as he will transfer to California Baptist, 15 days after entering the portal.
Riley Battin entered the transfer portal on March 15, following four seasons with Utah basketball and will now join California Baptist. He entered into the portal last season after Larry Krystowiak was fired as head coach following 10 seasons at the helm for the Runnin’ Utes. Once Craig Smith was hired, the two had a conversation and Battin took his name out of the portal.
The Oak Park, California native announced the news on Twitter on Wednesday.
#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/kHU7PP54Qv
— Riley Battin (@battin_riley) March 30, 2022
The move gives Battin an opportunity to finish his college basketball career closer to home.
Battin started his career at Utah in 2018-19 where he started in 21 of the 31 games he played as a true freshman. He averaged 6.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. During the 2019-20 season as a sophomore, Battin started in 28 of the 31 games played, posting averages of 7.8 points and 4.6 rebounds.
In 2020-21, Battin’s role was primarily off the bench, starting in 9 of the 25 games. He averaged 6.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per contest. This past season, Battin started the first 19 games before coming off the bench the last 10 games. In his 10 games coming off the bench, Battin played 10 or more minutes in just four of those games.
He finished the season averaging 4.4 points and 3.1 rebounds per game, while shooting 34% from the field, 28% from the three-point line and 81% at the free throw line.
Coming out of high school in Oak Park, California, Battin was a three-star prospect in the 2018 class. He was the No. 22 ranked recruit in the state of California. He received offers from Davidson, Ohio State, Vanderbilt, American, Bucknell, Cal Poly, Clemson, Colorado, Georgia Tech, Loyola Marymount, Northwestern, Portland, San Francisco, San Jose State, UC Santa Barbara, Utah State, Washington State and Yale.
California Baptist finished the 2021-22 season with an 18-16 overall record and 7-11 in WAC play.
Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports.
