When a junior isn’t planning to return to high school, sometimes that player is a component of Senior Day activities.
But RJ Luis Jr. doesn’t fit into that category.
The talented junior and Big East Player of the Yr candidate is not going to join seniors Kadary Richmond, Deivon Smith and Aaron Scott in being honored before Saturday’s home finale against Seton Hall.
“There may be a possibility that RJ goes to come back back, so he’ll test the waters, and if he’s a first-rounder or [gets] a guaranteed contract, he should go,” coach Rick Pitino said on Friday. “If he’s not, he should take into consideration staying. Obviously, I hope he stays, but I also hope he goes, because we expect he’s a professional, we expect he’ll do great on the NBA level.”
Luis said he never considered participating in Senior Day.
His focus is on clinching a Big East regular season crown against Seton Hall.
“Let’s win this game on Saturday,” he said.
Luis previously said he was keeping an open mind about his future.
The 6-foot-7 wing, meanwhile, may very well be on the cusp of a significant award.
He’s a contender for Big East Player of the Yr, together with Richmond and Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner.
The last St. John’s player to win the award was Walter Berry in 1986.
In conference play, Luis is fourth within the league in scoring (18.1) and rebounding (7.8), eleventh in free throw percentage (73.6) and twelfth in field goal percentage (42.5).
Big East coaches vote on the award, which is announced on the primary day of the conference tournament.
Scott is coping with a hamstring injury and didn’t practice on Friday.
He suffered the injury late in Wednesday’s win over Butler.
Scott did return to the sport and finished with eight points, six rebounds and two steals in 38 minutes.
He’ll test the hamstring on Saturday in warmups.
St. John’s can be having a “white out” for the sport. The varsity can be distributing 10,000 white T-shirts to fans within the Garden’s lower bowl.
Senior Day activities are set to start at 1:54 p.m. for the two:15 p.m. tipoff. Pitino wore a white suit for last yr’s “white out” game against Creighton, but he’s uncertain if he’ll wear it again on Saturday.
