In an era of collegiate athletics when rosters can change within hours, two familiar faces are ensuring continuity for Wichita State basketball.
Forwards TJ Williams and Dillon Battie announced their plans to return to WSU via their personal X, formerly known as Twitter, accounts Monday afternoon.
The timing of their announcement indicates a sense of loyalty — and unfinished business — for the two young forwards.
Following the loss to South Florida in the conference tournament title game, Battie told The Sunflower, “We’re going to have a young core that’s going to dominate.”
The Shockers concluded their season last Tuesday with a loss to Tulsa in the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament at 24-12 — the program’s most wins since 2017-18.
Wichita State was one game from winning the American Conference postseason tournament championship and finished the regular season at second in the league standings.
After the season-ending loss to the Golden Hurricane, Williams said, “A lot of people were like, ‘Why Wichita State?’ But ‘why not?’ is what I tell them. Why not? (We’re) just trying to get back to the glory days. We were really close this year.”
On the court this year, Williams and Battie each played vital roles for the Shockers, who won 14 of their last 18 games.
Williams, a Wichita Heights alum, was inserted into the lineup amid preseason injuries and made an early impact, including a 14-point and 11-rebound double-double in the second game of the year. A concussion he sustained against Rice in January forced him to the sideline for the second half of the season, but Williams still managed to finish with averages of 8.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.
Williams’ role off the bench was felt when defense transitioned to offense, especially late in the year, and culminated with a career performance of 27-points during a double-overtime road win against East Carolina in February.
He will have at least three years of eligibility remaining entering his redshirt sophomore season.
Battie, who saw minimal playing time throughout the first half of the season saw his role expand greatly by the 36th game. While Williams was out with a concussion, Battie slid into a starting role in a home win against North Texas and didn’t leave the spot for the rest of the season.
By the end of the year, Battie scored 7.6 points and pulled down 4.7 rebounds per game. He proved to be a high-flying forward, highlighted by a windmill dunk in the closing minutes of a senior day win against Florida Atlantic — a career-high 22-point and 12-rebound performance from Battie. He scored 10 or more points during six of the last eight games of the season.
Battie, a soon-to-be junior, will have at least two seasons of eligibility remaining.
But while Williams and Battie have announced their plans to stay, Wichita State is already feeling the effects of the transfer portal.
Dre Kindell, a soon-to-be senior guard, has already announced that he plans to enter the transfer portal once it officially opens April 7.
That means the Shockers could have up to 12 players return for next season, should center Emmanuel Okorafor receive a medical hardship waiver.
But one thing is certain: Williams and Battie just laid the foundation.
