At Crunchtime, Big East Player of the Year was not on the floor at St. John's.
At the final 4:56 of the Red Storm season-ending second half, a 75-66 defeat to Arkansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, star RJ Lewis Jr. did not play after submitting.
That was a struggle for all the games for Lewis. Lewis shot three-fifths from the field with just nine points.
When asked why Lewis sat down on the stretch, coach Rick Pitino said he didn't use the word “bench,” but went with other players.
“He played 30 minutes, and that's a long time,” Pitino said. “He played 30 minutes and I went with the others. You already know the answer… you know why he didn't play.”
Lewis said he “disappointed my teammates” after being asked about not playing in the final minutes.
The obviously uninjured movement took Lewis less than a minute after Lewis down two points at a time.
He stayed in the game until 4:56 left, then fouled on his subsequent possession before making two free throws.
Lewis hit both his looks and went 64-62 deficits from the charity stripe, but was pulled for Reuben's prey.
He had been a magical vehicle from him up to this point, and that was the last time he had touched the floor.
St. John's scored four points for the rest of the match.
The guard glowed brightly in the Big East Tournament and won the MVP after explosion of 29 points in the final.
Lewis added 22 points in the NCAA Tournament Opener against Omaha on Thursday, then posted one of the worst games of the year.
Saturday's efforts were the second time he finished in single-digit points in 2024-25. The other was an 8-point game against Clayton on a big year day.
“I feel like I've really done nothing since today,” Lewis said of the team's losses that ended an incredible season. “Just losing is sucking, the way we lost, the way we go out.”
