RJ Luis has been destined for stardom since his shins were surgically repaired this offseason and Saturday night, in a primetime showdown at Madison Square Garden against Villanova, was his official coming out party.
Luis put a shorthanded Red Storm squad on his back, scoring 30 points – 23 of which came in the second half – in an 80-68 victory for the Red Storm.
“RJ is one of the most gifted players I’ve coached,” Rick Pitino said following the game. “His toughness was incredible, he got to the floor before everybody…putting aside his great talent, his hustle was amazing to me tonight.”
It was prevalent with the Red Storm leading by nine, 74-65, and Villanova in desperation mode. He poked the ball away from Villanova star Eric Dixon and dove on the loose ball at halfcourt, forcing a jump ball and winning the Johnnies possession back.
“If you want to win this game, you have to play harder,” Luis said of Pitino’s message to the team during the second half when Villanova took a three-point lead. “We have to hustle more, and that’s what we did when we came out of the timeout.”
Luis, who became the fifth player in St. John’s history to record a 30-point, 10-rebound stat line, scored 14 points in the final 6:30 after Kadary Richmond scored five straight points to give the Johnnies the lead and they would not trail again.
Villanova (11-6, 4-2 Big East) didn’t go quietly, matching nearly every St. John’s basket but could not get over the hump to reclaim its advantage.
Wooga Poplar tied things up at 61 with 4:19 remaining but a free throw from Luis and a steal of Dixon by Simeon Wilcher, capped by a nifty reverse layup, pushed the Johnnie lead to three, 64-61.
Wilcher, again, made a midrange jumper to extend the Storm advantage to three as Luis would add to his total, icing the game at the free throw line.
The end of the first half ended ominously when Deivon Smith collied with Poplar on the baseline and immediately dropped to the ground holding his right shoulder.
Smith, the leading scorer at the time for the Red Storm with 12 points, went right back to the locker room and emerged in the second half with his shoulder heavily wrapped and his arm in a sling.
Still, the senior tried to play in the second half, but he did not have enough mobility in his arm to function as Villanova turned a five-point halftime deficit, 36-31, into a three-point second half lead, 48-45.
Rick Pitino believes Smith avoided serious injury, but his status is unclear moving forward.
St. John’s (14-3, 5-1 Big East), which now sits tied for second in the conference with UConn (13-4, 5-1 Big East), has a quick turnaround, returning to Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night (7:30 p.m. ET, Peacock) to face Georgetown (12-4, 3-2 Big East).