The junior wing becomes the third Red Storm player to ever win the award, joining program legends Chris Mullin and Walter Berry
After leading St. John’s in scoring in the midst of their first outright Big East regular season title in 40 years, RJ Luis was named the Big East’s Player of the Year by the conference’s coaches on Wednesday.
Luis becomes the first St. John’s player to win the Big East Player of the Year award since 1986 and enters an exclusive club of program legends on Wednesday afternoon, becoming the third-ever Red Storm player to win the Big East Player of the Year award, joining three-time winner Chris Mullin and Walter Berry.
The Miami native was named to the First Team All-Big East selection as a unanimous selection earlier this week alongside teammate Zuby Ejiofor, who was named the Big East’s Most Improved Player this season.
Transferring from UMass after his freshman season, RJ Luis practiced sparingly and struggled to find consistency playing Big East basketball as he dealt with shin splints that could have become leg fractures throughout his first season with the Red Storm. In the 2023-24 season, Luis only started in 10 of 23 games played while averaging 10.9 points and 4.6 rebounds, only shooting 42.2% from the field and 20.0% from three.
He underwent offseason surgery on his shins, continued to develop once he returned to the court, and bounced back incredibly in his junior season to become the player in the conference. Luis’s scoring average nearly doubled to a team-best 18.1 points per game, pulled down even more rebounds by averaging 7.1 rebounds, ranked in the top-ten in the conference by shooting 44.2% from the field, and his three-point shooting took a leap by 10.8 percentage points.
RJ Luis and the St. John’s men’s basketball team (27-4, 18-2 Big East) await the winner of today’s Providence versus Butler first-round matchup in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden. Tip-off is slated for noon Eastern, and the game will be streamed on Peacock.