In crunch time, the Big East Player of the Year was not on the floor for St. John’s.
Over the final 4:56 of the second half of the Red Storm’s season-ending, 75-66 loss to Arkansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, star RJ Luis Jr. did not play after getting subbed out.
It had been a struggle all game for Luis, who shot 3-of-17 from the field with just nine points.
When asked why Luis sat down the stretch, coach Rick Pitino didn’t use the word “benched” but said he went with other players.
“He played 30 minutes, that’s a long time,” Pitino said. “He played 30 minutes and I went with other people. You already know the answer… You know why he didn’t play.”
Luis said that he “let my teammates down” after he was asked about not playing in the final minutes.
The move, which was apparently not injury-related, came less than a minute after Luis, with St. John’s down by two points, missed a wild shot as he drove toward the basket and missed everything.
He did stay in the game up until 4:56 left, hitting two free throws after getting fouled on a subsequent possession.
Luis hit both of his looks — and made it a 64-62 deficit — from the charity stripe, but was then pulled for Ruben Prey.
That was the last time he touched the floor in what had been a magical ride from him up until this point.
St. John’s scored four points the rest of the way.
The guard shined bright in the Big East Tournament and won MVP after a 29-point outburst in the final.
Luis added 22 points in the NCAA Tournament opener on Thursday against Omaha before he put up one of the worst games of the year.
Saturday’s effort was just the second time he finished with single-digit points in 2024-25, the other being an eight-point game against Creighton on New Year’s Eve.
“It feels like we didn’t do anything, really, after today,” Luis said of the loss ending the team’s incredible season. “Just sucks to lose, the way we lost, the way we went out.”