Per Rick Pitino, the junior wing is “100%” after undergoing offseason shin surgery, and he modeled his new jumper after Joel Embiid’s during the summer
Students returned to campus this week — and so has R.J. Luis to the St. John’s men’s basketball team.
On Wednesday, CBS Sports reporter Jon Rothstein reported that R.J. Luis is fully cleared for basketball-related activities after undergoing offseason shin surgery.
After transferring from UMass to play under Pitino in his first season in charge of the Red Storm, R.J. Luis battled a couple of significant injuries.
Before the start of the regular season, Luis suffered a broken hand. Once he returned and made a promising 14-point St. John’s debut against Holy Cross in late November, he was quickly sidelined due to shin splints in both legs. Because of the risk of shin splints progressing into a stress fracture when leg muscles are overworked, Rick Pitino limited Luis’s practice time between games out of caution.
Luis’s production stagnated in his sophomore season, whether it was due to his inconsistent practice regimen, the lingering shin injuries hampering his play, or a combination of both. His points-per-game, field goal, and free throw percentages dipped slightly, but his three-point percentage sank from 34.8% to 20.0%.
This summer provided Luis the chance to start over. He underwent successful shin surgery after the end of the 2023-24 season and has been recovering throughout the offseason. During a mid-July NIL event at a Fresh Meadows Applebee’s, Luis quipped that “he got new legs” when talking with New York Post reporter Zach Braziller.
We will also see a brand new jumper by Luis. Shortly after Rothstein broke the report on Luis’s return, Rick Pitino posted a tweet stating that he sent Luis videos of Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid’s jump shot in hopes that Luis can model his jumper after the one-time NBA MVP. The Hall of Fame head coach claimed that his junior wing’s new shot “looks awesome.”
Fans won’t have to wait too long to see Luis’s new jumper in action, as the 2024-25 St. John’s men’s basketball season tips off against Fordham on Monday, November 4th at Carnesecca Arena.