Turner Battle
{{Short description|American basketball player (born 1983)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox basketball biography
| name = Turner Battle
| image =
| height_m = 1.91
| weight_kg =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1983|1|11}}
| birth_place = Kernersville, North Carolina, U.S.
| high_school = East Forsyth
(Kernersville, North Carolina)
| college = Buffalo (2001–2005)
| draft_year = 2005
| career_start = 2005
| career_number = 11
| career_position = Point guard
| career_end = 2006
| coach_start = 2007
| years1 = 2005
| team1 = BC Kalev
| years2 = 2005
| team2 = Étendard de Brest
| years3 = 2006
| team3 = Fort Worth Flyers
| years4 = 2006
| team4 = Buffalo Rapids
| cyears1 = 2007–2013|cteam1=Buffalo (assistant)
| cyears2 = 2013–2014|cteam2= Chattanooga (assistant)
| cyears3 = 2014–2020|cteam3 = UAB (assistant)
| cyears4 = 2020–2021|cteam4 = East Tennessee State (assistant)
| cyears5 = 2021–2022|cteam5 = Middle Tennessee (assistant)
| highlights =
- No. 11 honored by Buffalo Bulls
- MAC Player of the Year (2005)
- First-team All-MAC (2005)
}}
Turner Battle (born January 11, 1983) is an American former basketball point guard for the University at Buffalo Bulls men's basketball team from 2001 to 2005. Battle is credited with fueling the resurgence of the Bulls men's basketball program,{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}} which went from 5–23 during his sophomore season to a 23-win senior campaign. Battle is now currently athletic director for The Park School of Buffalo, which is in Amherst, New York (north of Buffalo).
High school
The Bulls announced the signing of Battle on November 10, 2000, out of East Forsyth High School in North Carolina. There, he led the Fighting Eagles to a 15–8 record and a conference championship as a senior, while averaging 17 points, five rebounds and five assists per game.
Following his senior season, "All-Star Sports" Editor-in-Chief and college basketball recruiting expert Bob Gibbons had Battle rated as one of the top 100 prospects in the Class of 2001. "I think this is the steal of the millennium," said Gibbons. "Turner Battle could have played for an ACC school. He's a true point guard who is a tremendous floor leader and an outstanding student-athlete."{{cite web |url=http://www.ubathletics.buffalo.edu/mensbasketball/news/mbb11-10-2000-battle.shtml |title=Archived copy |website=www.ubathletics.buffalo.edu |access-date=13 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020829072343/http://www.ubathletics.buffalo.edu/mensbasketball/news/mbb11-10-2000-battle.shtml |archive-date=29 August 2002 |url-status=dead}}
Battle chose to play college basketball at Buffalo over competing offers from Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech and other schools in part because he wanted to play for UB head coach Reggie Witherspoon. Gibbons would later call Battle "the best thing to happen to Buffalo since the invention of the snowplow."{{cite news |last1=Madelaro |first1=Jim |title=Bulls are making a run |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98012028/democrat-and-chronicle/ |access-date=20 March 2022 |work=Democrat and Chronicle |date=5 March 2005 |pages=26}}
College
Following a senior season in which Battle averaged 15.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game, Battle led the Bulls to within a last second tip-in of the school's first MAC Championship and an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament. After the season, Battle was honored as the Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, the first such award for a Buffalo player. Battle was also named to the All-MAC First Team for the first time in his career (he was named All-MAC Honorable Mention following his sophomore season). In addition, Battle was named to the Academic All-MAC squad after his final three seasons with the Bulls.
Professional
Following his collegiate career, Battle signed with BC Kalev/Cramo, a first division team in Estonia before briefly playing for a first division team in France. Battle then signed with the Fort Worth Flyers of the NBADL. On February 1, 2006, Battle returned to Buffalo to play with the Buffalo Rapids of the American Basketball Association.
Coaching
Battle was an assistant coach at Sweet Home High School in the Buffalo suburb of Amherst for the 2006–07 season and on July 5, 2007, he was named assistant coach at his alma mater.
Battle was named assistant coach at Chattanooga on May 23, 2013, under new head coach Will Wade.{{Cite web|url=https://gomocs.com/news/2013/5/23/207797760.aspx|title=Turner Battle Joins Will Wade at Chattanooga|website=University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Athletics}}
Battle was hired by UAB on September 23, 2014, as an assistant coach under Jerod Haase.{{Cite web|url=https://uabsports.com/news/2014/9/23/Turner_Battle_Officially_Joins_UAB_Men_s_Basketball_Staff.aspx?path=mbball|title=Turner Battle Officially Joins UAB Men's Basketball Staff|website=University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.buffalobulls.com/sports/mbkb/coaches/battle_turner Buffalo coaching bio]
- [https://www.basketball-reference.com/nbdl/players/b/battltu01d.html NBDL statistics]
- [https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/5434 Turner Battle's stats @ ESPN.com]
{{Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year navbox}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle, Turner}}
Category:American expatriate basketball people in Estonia
Category:American expatriate basketball people in France
Category:American expatriate basketball people in Sweden
Category:American men's basketball players
Category:Basketball coaches from North Carolina
Category:Basketball players from North Carolina
Category:BC Kalev/Cramo players
Category:Buffalo Bulls men's basketball coaches
Category:Buffalo Bulls men's basketball players
Category:Buffalo Sharks players
Category:East Tennessee State Buccaneers men's basketball coaches
Category:Fort Worth Flyers players
Category:High school basketball coaches in New York (state)