RJ Luis Jr. has been everywhere for St. John’s during their historic season.
The junior knocked down big shot after big shot -- averaging 18.5 points and 7.2 rebounds to help take home the Big East Player of the Year and help the Red Storm secure their first conference title since 2000.
He was simply tremendous -- but when things mattered the most during Saturday’s elimination loss to the University of Arkansas in the second round of the NCAA tournament -- Luis was nowhere to be found.
The 22-year-old put together one of his worst games of the year -- finishing with less than 10 points for just the second time this season, while shooting an abysmal 3-for-17 from the field and 0-for-3 from behind the arc.
Luis did show some signs of life late in the contest, when he knocked down a pair of free throws to help cut the Razorbacks lead down to two points -- but then he found himself glued to the bench for the last 4:56 of the game.
It was a very questionable decision that ultimately led to the Johnnies missing eight of their last nine shots in what ended as a 10-point, season-ending loss. However, head coach Rick Pitino defiantly defended it postgame.
“He played 30 minutes, that’s a long time,” Pitino said. “He played 30 minutes so I went with other people, you already know the answer to that question -- don’t ask leading questions, you know why he didn’t play. You know he was 3-for-17. You know he was 0-for-3. You're answering your own. I'm not going to know one of my players."
For Luis, it hurt to have things go down this way when it matters the most.
“I let my teammates down,” he said. “For me to not be able to be on the court for the last couple of minutes to help my team win hurt me -- I love these guys. We fought through a lot of adversity this year and we were able to bounce back a few different times. We had a great year, we just fell short and it sucks to lose this way.”
Still, the long-time head coach knows there are plenty of positives to take away from a campaign in which the Red Storm finished atop the Big East after going an incredible 31-4.
“There was a lot of great moments this year,” Pitino said. “You wish that you could go out playing better offensively, but that’s the breaks of the game. Give them credit, move on, and we’ll see what happens in the future.”