A dream season for St. John’s ended with the Big East Player of the Year on the bench.
RJ Luis Jr. did not play the final 4:56 of Saturday afternoon’s 75-66 loss to Arkansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament after he shot 3-of-17 from the field, including 0-of-3 on 3-point attempts.
“You know he was 3-for-17,” Pitino said when asked about sitting Luis. “You know he was 0-for-3, so you’re answering your own . I’m not going to knock one of my players.”
The junior guard finished with nine points in 30 minutes.
“I let my teammates down,” Luis said.
Second-seeded St. John’s trailed, 66-64, when Pitino removed Luis for good in favor of freshman forward Ruben Prey.
The Johnnies went with a lineup of Prey, Deivon Smith, Simeon Wilcher, Aaron Scott and Zuby Ejiofor for the next four minutes and 27 seconds. Senior guard Kadary Richmond had already fouled out at that point.
Freshman guard Lefteris Liotopoulos then subbed in for Prey with 29 seconds remaining and St. John’s down, 70-64.
“He played 30 minutes and I went with other people,” Pitino said of Luis. “… You already know why he didn’t play.”
Luis entered Saturday averaging a team-high 18.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.
That breakout season led to Luis being named the Big East Player of the Year and as one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith College Player of the Year.
Luis was also named the Big East Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after he averaged 20.7 points and 8.0 rebounds per game and scored 29 points in a 82-66 win over Creighton in the championship game.
He scored at least 20 points in six of his last seven games before Saturday’s, including a 22-point performance against Omaha on Thursday in his NCAA Tournament debut.
Luis was one of several Red Storm players to struggle in Saturday’s loss to No. 10 Arkansas, during which St. John’s shot just 28% from the field and went 2-of-22 from 3-point range.
Scott finished 1-of-10 for seven points, while Liotopoulos went 1-of-8 for three points. Richmond shot 2-of-7 for five points in his 16 minutes before he fouled out.
“I hate to see them go out this way,” Pitino said. “We thought we were championship-driven in our minds, but I have been disappointed before with this. You hate to see us play like that. I don’t mind going out with a loss, I just hate to see us play that way offensively. You gotta live with it.”
With the loss, St. John’s finished 31-5 but fell short of a trip to the Sweet 16.
“It feels like we didn’t do anything, really, after today,” Luis said. “It just sucks to lose the way we lost and the way we went out.”