[IMPORTANT: Make this 4 times longer with much more detail]
Basketball Big East Player of the Year and Tournament Most Outstanding Player St. John’s RJ Luis Jr.: ‘This has been the best week of my entire life’ by Robert Rizzo March 16, 2025 Image Credit: St. John’s Men’s Basketball NEW YORK, NY — Throughout the course of “Champ Week,” the 2024-2025 Big East Player of the Year, St. John’s RJ Luis Jr., a Big East Conference regular season champion, had one goal in mind: a Big East Tournament crown for the St. John’s Red Storm. After Saturday night in the 2025 Big East Tournament title game, it’s safe to say the six-seven junior combo-guard of Dominican and Ecuadorian family heritage, hit on his objective and some. “This is crazy man. I was telling the media, ‘this has been the best week of my entire life.’ God has been so good to me and all I like to do is keep on giving him the glory. Keeping my belief in him, knowing that everything happens for a reason and trusting the process. I’m just really blessed.” – St. John’s RJ Luis Jr. During a four-day long pursuit, which started by giving a heartfelt speech for his Big East Player of the Year award this past Wednesday , followed up with a trio of do-or-die Big East Tournament games vs. the Butler Bulldogs , Marquette Golden Eagles , and Creighton Bluejays, at “The World’s Most Famous Arena” Madison Square Garden, Luis Jr. carried number-one seeded St. John’s to the program’s first Big East Tourney championship in twenty-five years (2000). Image Credit: St. John’s Men’s Basketball In the process, the kid from Miami, Florida, became a Johnnie legend in front of all of the Big Apple’s eyes. Recording 29 points overall with 27 coming in the second half of the Red Storm’s 82-66 Big East Tournament title game victory over Creighton, making for MSG’s sold-out crowd of 19,812, including his mother Maria, father Reggie, two sisters Rachael and Rylee, Spike Lee, Walter Berry, and Alex Rodriguez, to get chaotic on several occurrences, Luis Jr. set a new record for most points scored ever by a St. John’s player in a Big East Tournament championship game — Chris Mullin’s 25 points was the previous high set in 1985. “I think that was just beast mode being beast mode,” his teammate graduate guard Kadary Richmond said of Luis Jr. Via the result of his legendary performance, just as red, white, and blue championship confetti began to slowly filter through the air of The Garden while his Red Storm teammates, coaches, and program’s leader Rick Pitino, celebrated the monumental accomplishment, Big East commissioner Val Ackerman named Luis Jr., who was wrapped in the flag of his beloved Dominican Republic, the winner of the Dave Gavitt Trophy as Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player. Picture Perfect: The colors of the confetti matched Luis Jr.’s special D.R. flag, and at one point, he even attempted to put the flag over Pitino to avoid the longtime-winning head coach getting covered in confetti. Image Credit: St. John’s Men’s Basketball With his teammates and the crowd chanting, ‘MVP, MVP, MVP,’ Luis Jr. accepted the Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player award on the championship stage, and started off by stating, “God is amazing. He truly changed my life. I got some special people around me. From Coach P (Pitino) to the coaching staff, I love all my teammates — this is a brotherhood.” “I’m so excited and I couldn’t be more blessed for this opportunity. Shoutout to all of New York for supporting us, we love y’all!” His father Reggie, who was on the court for the championship celebration alongside his wife and two daughters, soaking in all the glory, had high praise for his son, seeing all the ups and downs RJ has battled through on-and-off the court. “I can’t describe this feeling to be honest,” he said. “It’s been a long journey so far. When I say ‘a long journey,’ I mean it because of what he (RJ) went through — the surgeries, injuries and everything. The way he bounced back, there’s no words to describe it but saying, ‘it’s all about the man above.’” (L) RJ Luis Jr. and (R) Reggie Charles Luis – Image Credit: Robert Rizzo/Latino Sports Latino Pride: When asked on the decision to have the flag of the D.R. with him during the Red Storm’s championship celebration, Luis Jr. replied, “There’s a bunch of media and stuff like that so I thought it was just a great opportunity to throw out the flag and put it out there.” “Letting everyone know that I’m Dominican. That’s really what it was, just trying to represent.” Family Matters: On having the opportunity of having him and his family together to celebrate on the court while St. John’s cut down the nets : “I was going to finish (stop) celebrating if they didn’t get on the court. I was trying to make sure they got on the court. It was everything — just to have them there, really up close. I gave my little sisters the trophies to hold onto and I took a picture of them.” “It was truly special for them to come out and support me.” Image Credit: St. John’s Men’s Basketball New York State of Mind With Saturday’s victory, St. John’s leveled up to a 30-4 overall record — the second-most ever in a given season for the Johnnies (1984-1985, & 1985-1986: 31). And this is before the NCAA March Madness Tournament opens up later this week. The Red Storm also finished with an undefeated 12-0 record and +130 point differential in games played at Madison Square Garden. Image Credit: St. John’s Men’s Basketball What The 2025 Big East Tournament Champs Had To Say “We had three phases we set out, and phase one was to win the regular BIG EAST Championship. Phase two gets very difficult because you can’t embrace what you are accomplishing. You just have to keep getting better. We accomplished that, and phase three was to make the tournament and go as far as we could possibly go.” – head coach Rick Pitino “Once we started getting up and down, started playing together, you see the level of competitiveness, you see the coaching staff, the intensity. So, just seeing that from when we started going up and down, it just showed me that they’re serious about what they do here and they really want to win, and we’re reaping the benefits of that.” – graduate guard Kadary Richmond “To be a champion two times in the same year, it’s really something you can’t dream of. I’m just so proud of all the accomplishments we’ve been through. Everything we’ve been through, all the adversity we’ve fought through all year. We’re a great team, we live for moments like this because of how we’re coached and taught. We still have a lot more to prove and a lot more ahead.” – junior forward Zuby Ejiofor Follow us on Social Media for updates and exclusive content Instagram: @latinosportsoficial Facebook: Latino Sports Twitter: @latinosports Related Topics Big East Big East Champs Big East Conference Big East Conference Tournament BIG EAST Tournament Chris Mullin College Basketball College Hoops College Men’s Basketball Dominican Republic Ecuador featured Kadary Richmond Madison Square Garden Miami MSG NCAA NCAA Men’s Basketball New York City Red Storm Rick Pitino RJ Luis Jr. St. Johns St. Johns Red Storm St. Johns University Zuby Ejiofor Click to comment Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Comment * Name * Email * Website Advertisement Facebook Latest Article Baseball / 1 month ago 35TH ANNUAL LATINO MVP AWARDS – 2024 OFFICIAL BALLOT ANNOUNCED BRONX, NY (February 10th, 2025) — It has been thirty five (35) years since… By Press Release Baseball / 1 hour ago Unusual Case in the History of Spring Training – Caso Insólito en la Historia del Spring Training Coral Gables, Florida (VIP-WIRE) – During this time of Major League Baseball training, it’s… By Juan Vené Basketball / 3 hours ago Big East Player of the Year and Tournament Most Outstanding Player St. John’s RJ Luis Jr.: ‘This has been the best week of my entire life’ NEW YORK, NY — Throughout the course of “Champ Week,” the 2024-2025 Big East… By Robert Rizzo MLS / 4 hours ago The NYFC Duo And Home Win BRONX, NY — Alonso Martínez and Julián Fernández figured in the scoring Saturday night… By Rich Mancuso Baseball / 5 hours ago Interview with NL LatinoMVP Pitcher of the Year Finalist Freddy Peralta: ‘Winning this award would be a moment of pride’ PHOENIX, AZ — I met Freddy Peralta in the Milwaukee Brewers’ locker room during… By Julio Pabón More in Basketball Storming Into Big East Tournament Championship: St. John’s beats Marquette in Semifinals of Big East Tourney NEW YORK, NY — A Saturday night Big East Conference Tournament Championship appearance at… Movin’ On To Friday: St. John’s advances to Big East Tournament Semifinals NEW YORK, NY — There are not many environments in sports that can match… STAR-J: St. John’s RJ Luis Jr. named 2024-2025 Big East Player of the Year NEW YORK, NY — As the legendary Frank Sinatra once said: “If you can… Women’s History in Sports Spotlight: New York Liberty Latino Sports will continue to shine light on the power, resilience, and heart of… Storming Into Big East Tournament Championship: St. John’s beats Marquette in Semifinals of Big East Tourney
