A native of
Edison, New Jersey, Battle first became a nationally ranked basketball player in sixth grade. He played for
Gill St. Bernard's School in
Gladstone, New Jersey for freshman, sophomore, and junior year but then transferred to
St. Joseph High School in
Metuchen, New Jersey, which was closer to home and allowed him to follow in the footsteps of former standouts of the school
Jay Williams and
Karl-Anthony Towns. Battle had averaged 22.5
points, 6.3
rebounds, 3.6
assists and 2
steals per game as a 2013–14 sophomore. He only appeared in 9 games during his junior season, as a result. His average fell to 16.9 points in his limited junior campaign.
Kentucky head coach John Calipari visited Battle on Halloween 2014. He narrowed his list of candidate schools to seven on February 23, 2015: Connecticut, Syracuse, Duke, Ohio State, Louisville, Michigan, and
Notre Dame. Michigan head coach
John Beilein visited Battle in New Jersey in February 2015. Battle took official visits to Duke and Louisville in April 2015 before visiting Michigan and had planned to visit Syracuse in late May 2015. Syracuse coach
Jim Boeheim had an in-home visit with Battle. He was also ranked no. 14 by
Rivals.com, no. 10 by
Scout.com, and no. 12 by
247Sports.com. He was the no. 4 shooting guard in the class according to 247Sports. At the time of his signing, Michigan had the top 2016 recruiting class with Battle and a pair of
centers (
Jon Teske and Austin Davis). Although at the time of Battle's signing, the entire set of scholarships for the class of 2016 seemed to be allocated, some sources reported that Michigan was expected to continue to lure point guards like
Cassius Winston and Devearl Ramsey to play with Battle. who committed to Michigan in 2011. On June 19, Battle decommitted from Michigan and scheduled an official visit to Syracuse. On July 13, he committed to Syracuse. ==College career==