RJ Luis Jr. makes debut for St. John's in rout of Holy Cross
RJ Luis Jr. of St. John's scores during a game against Holy Cross at Carnesecca Arena on Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023. Credit: Errol Anderson
The wait finally came to an end and RJ Luis Jr. attacked his first game in a St. John’s uniform as if he’d waited an eternity.
The transfer from UMass suffered a broken left hand in early October and wasn’t able to practice until last weekend. Deemed ready to compete this week, he was one of the first two players off the bench for the Red Storm on Saturday night in a 91-45 non-conference rout of Holy Cross before a sellout crowd of 5,602 at Carnesecca Arena.
Luis went to the scorer’s table with a couple of fingers taped, stepped on the court 3:58 into the game and had an immediate impact. He got a steal on the first possession and finished the ensuing fast break with a layup off a pass from Simeon Wilcher.
“It’s been a long seven weeks,” Luis said. “It had its pros and cons, sitting out at practice. It allowed me to learn my teammates’ tendencies, really learn the system and get an outside view of how Coach P wants us playing. I just got my feet wet tonight, so it’s just keep on improving.”
Asked how close he is to being 100%, Luis replied, “Humbly, I think that tonight was like 40%.”
The 6-7 Luis showed the offensive skills that made him a significant addition after coach Rick Pitino began remaking the Red Storm after taking over in March. He did the things Pitino demands, using his length on defense to get deflections and under the glass to get rebounds. Luis scored 14 points, shot 6-for-12 and had four rebounds and three steals in 17 minutes.
“I’ve coached a lot of very gifted players, but he’s one of the more gifted players because he does so many different things,” Pitino said. “He’s a shot- blocker — which you didn’t see tonight — he’s a great ballhandler, a great playmaker, a great scorer. He’s a very good rebounder. So he’s just coming into his own, coming off seven weeks [out], but very, very talented young man . . . Only great things are going to happen going forward with him.”
Pitino said Luis could be deployed at both forward spots and shooting guard and that it requires learning all of them. “Tonight he only made one mistake . . . he’s a natural,” Pitino said.
St. John’s did precisely what it is supposed to do when matched up against a lesser opponent, grabbing control early and ultimately manhandling the Crusaders.
Joel Soriano dominated them with 16 points on 8-for-9 shooting. He had a dozen points in the first half.
Jordan Dingle had 11 points, Chris Ledlum added 10 and Daniss Jenkins had six assists for St. John’s. The Red Storm shot 51%, had 14 steals, turned 20 Crusader turnovers into 27 points and committed only eight giveaways.
The lopsided score afforded Pitino the latitude to give players who’d seen only limited action an extended look. Wilcher played 18 minutes, Zuby Ejiofor 17 and Brady Dunlap 15.
Wilcher had five assists and two steals. Ejiofor contributed seven rebounds, four blocks and two highlight-reel dunks. Dunlap had five points and five rebounds.
“It’s great for Sim to learn behind [Jenkins] — he’s the heir apparent to that position,” Pitino said. “If we’re in a war with West Virginia [Friday], I’ve got no problem putting Sim in the game at any point in time or Brady in the game. Brady played really good defense.”
It was only a game for about eight minutes as St. John’s got in sync. Holy Cross actually led 18-10 after 7:46. Then St. John’s scored 18 of the game’s next 20 points — six from Ledlum, five from Glenn Taylor Jr. and four from Soriano — and took a 28-20 lead on Ledlum’s steal and breakaway layup with 6:54 left in the half.
The Red Storm added a 13-3 run before closing the half ahead 44-28. The final score was their biggest lead.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
