RJ Luis Wins Haggerty Award For Outstanding Season At St. John's

 

RJ Luis Jr. burying a fadeaway jumper against UConn on February 24th. Photo by Jason Schott.

St. John's star RJ Luis Jr. was honored on Thursday by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers' Association as the winner of the Lt. Frank J. Haggerty Met Player of the Year.

Luis Jr. is the 28th player in St. John's history, and the first since Shamorie Ponds in 2018, to win this prestigious award, which was first given in 1936. Haggerty was a former co-captain of the St. John's basketball team in the 1930s, who passed away in World War II.

On Wednesday, Luis was one of three St. John's players named to the All-Met First Team, along with Zuby Ejiofor and Kadary Richmond.

"I'm obviously a proud representative of the whole entire University of St. John's," Luis Jr. said at the Met Basketball Writers' Association Dinner in Tarrytown, NY, on Thursday night. "It's great to come here and obviously Zuby is here too. I missed him a little bit, so also trying to come see him."

Luis Jr. has received many accolades this year, starting with being honored as the Big East Player of the Year, just the third St. John's player to receive the honor, for a season in which he averaged 18.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, as he led the Red Storm to win the Big East Regular Season Championship and Tournament. 

In addition, since the season ended, Luis Jr. received many national honors, starting with being honored as the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America Team Member of the Year, and a finalist for the Naismith Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award. He also was named to all four major All-American teams, Associated Press (Second Team), NABC (Second Team), USBWA (Second Team), and Sporting News (Second Team). 

Since the season ended, Luis Jr. has entered both the NBA Draft and the transfer portal, ending his time at St. John's. 

Luis Jr. said of preparing for the NBA Draft, "I'm back home working with Ronnie Taylor and my strength and conditioning coaches. We've been getting some good work, just trying to work on my body, because at the next level guys are a lot stronger, a lot bigger. I'm just really trying to be physically prepared and also working out basketball twice a day. Trying to get my jump shot right from three-point line, which is a big, big aspect of the NBA game today. I am just focusing on getting better as a player and putting in the work."

On his goals for the next chapter in his basketball career, Luis Jr. said, "Everybody's dream is to go in the First Round. Obviously, just to continue to put in the work and going into the combine. I want to perform at a high level. When I go to the team workouts, I want to show teams what I'm capable of and what type of person I am."