Pitino safeguards benching Luis in loss to Arkansas

• Mike Reiss Close Mike Reiss ESPN Personnel Author Mike Reiss is an NFL reporter at ESPN

  and covers the New England Patriots.

  Reiss has covered the Patriots considering that 1997 and signed up with ESPN in 2009. In 2019, he was called Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association.Mar 22, 2025, 08:14 PM ET PROVIDENCE, R.I.– No. 2 seed St. John’s was knocked out of the NCAA competition

by 10th-seeded Arkansas on

Saturday, with the Red Storm’s No. 1 player on the bench in crunch time.When Big East Gamer of the Year RJ Luis Jr. hit 2 complimentary tosses with 4:56 remaining to pull St. John’s within 2 points, coach Rick Pitino subbed him out of the game. Luis, who amounted to 9 points on 3-for-17 shooting, never ever returned.Pitino was pressed by press reporters on the choice, as Arkansas outscored his group 11-4 the rest of the method to tape-record a 75-66 success in front of a frenzied sellout crowd of 11,487

at the Amica Mutual Pavilion.Editor’s Picks At first, Pitino referenced Luis having played thirty minutes,

noting, “That’s a very long time. “But when asked if he kept Luis on the bench due to the fact that he was worn out, Pitino said:”No. He played thirty minutes. I played other people. You’re asking leading concerns, so don’t ask me any questions. You already know why he didn’t play. “There was tension in the Bill Reynolds Media Work Room. At one point, it was mentioned to Pitino that Luis had told a reporter that as a player he didn’t believe he had been a favorable leader during the game. When asked his ideas on what Luis stated, Pitino didn’t resolve it straight, instead referencing 3 other St. John’s players for whom he had appreciation.Then when asked if there was one play that led him to keeping Luis on the bench, Pitino shot back by referencing his shooting percentages. “You know he was 3-for-17.

You understand he was 0-for-3 [from 3] So, you’re addressing our own [question]

,”he stated. “I’m not going to knock among my players. “Luis went into Saturday averaging 18.5 points per game. His season low getting in Saturday was an eight-point game versus Creighton on Dec. 31,

when he was 4-of-15 from the field. St. John’s leading scorer RJ Luis ended up with simply 9 points on 3-for-17 shooting in Saturday’s 75-66 loss to Arkansas in the NCAA tournament’s round of 32. Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images His resist Arkansas contributed to the Red Storm shooting 28%from the field. They were 2-for-22 from 3. “It feels like we didn’t do anything, actually. It draws to lose the method we lost,”Luis said.”I let my teammates down.”Pitino offered his take on St. John’s issues. “Offensively, we did not share the

basketball enough, which was our demise,”said Pitino, whose group completed 31-5 after winning the Big East regular-season and tournament

titles.”We did not move the basketball enough,

and that resulted in us shooting a very low portion. We need to get a high number of helps to win, and we didn’t tonight.”There wasn’t a magic scheme or change that dropped the Red Storm. They had not seen a group as long and athletic as Arkansas all year, and that added to their substantial battles on offense.Villanova had actually disturbed St. John’s in February by consistently exposing the Red Storm off the dribble. Other challengers followed that blueprint, however none had the exact same collection of skill as Arkansas to regularly beat them off the dribble.As the 3-point shots continued to carom out

for St. John’s, and as Arkansas regularly permeated the lane at will, St. John’s responded badly. The Red Storm’s disposition was shown by their body language, as things got so bad for Luis at one point that teammate Zuby Ejiofor (23 points, 12 rebounds)grabbed

him by the shoulders for a pep talk.This was not lost on the Arkansas players.”Ohhhhhh, many absolutely, “exclaimed Arkansas freshman guard Boogie Fland, when asked if he might see collected frustration. “You might see it on their face. Body language … states more than words. They really showed that. We were wearing them down, using them down

.”