First, Maria Luis began breaking down, as she watched her son walk to the stage to accept his Big East Player of the Year award.
Then, RJ Luis Jr. followed her lead. He couldn’t help himself, as much as he tried.
The tears began flowing.
“I told my mom before I went up to make my speech, ‘Please don’t cry, because once you cry, I’m going to start crying,’ ” Luis said. “Obviously, this is very emotional for us — not just for me, but the whole family.”
It was a memorable moment for the St. John’s junior and his family.
Not only were his parents, Maria Luis and Reggie Luis Charles, in attendance, but so were his younger sisters, Rylee and Rachael.
He went from an unheralded three-star recruit out of Christopher Columbus High School in Miami to a promising freshman at Massachusetts to one of the premier wings in the country as a junior.
His sophomore year at St. John’s was inconsistent, mostly due to shin splints in each leg that required surgery last April.
On Wednesday, he became the first Johnnie in 39 years — since Walter Berry in 1986 — to win the league’s most prestigious honor.
“If I told you [I thought this was going to happen], I would be lying to myself. My main focus was just trying to get back to myself, trying to be healthy,” said Luis, who beat fellow unanimous All-Big East first team selections Ryan Kalkbrenner of Creighton, Kam Jones of Marquette and Eric Dixon of Villanova. “It just shows that with determination and success, you can get anything done. I have to give the credit to my teammates. Without them I wouldn’t be considered for this award, because of how good of a season we’ve had as a whole.”
It was 22 months ago that Luis had to make a difficult decision after entering the transfer portal. He had options. He took visits to Louisville and Texas A&M, along with St. John’s. Alabama was interested.
The Queens school stood out for one very specific reason: Rick Pitino.
Charles was close to former Louisville star Francisco Garcia, who raved about the Hall of Fame coach.
“His dad saw what we did with Francisco and they were big fans of that Louisville team,” Pitino said. “It was a perfect match. He’s very easy to coach, because he wants to be great.”
Pitino was also named the Big East Coach of the Year after leading the sixth-ranked Red Storm to their first outright regular-season title since 1985.
It is, remarkably, his first time winning the honor in 12 seasons as a Big East coach at Providence, Louisville and St. John’s.
The award continued a big week for the Johnnies.
CHECK OUT THE LATEST BIG EAST STANDINGS AND ST. JOHN’S STATS
On Sunday, Luis and forward Zuby Ejiofor were named to the All-Big East first team. A day later, Ejiofor was selected as the conference’s Most Improved Player.
Luis and Ejiofor, close friends, are the latest Pitino developmental success stories, going from role players a year ago to stars this season.
“Coach Pitino does a great job of just pushing us to our limits and beyond,” Ejiofor said. “The player development sessions, the practices, the level of competitiveness is always there every single day. We have no choice but to get better.”
From the time Luis arrived in Queens, Pitino raved about his potential, which was only seen in glimpses a year ago.
Luis suffered a fractured left hand during the preseason and battled severe shin splints the entire year.
He was rarely able to practice or take part in Pitino’s renowned skill development sessions.
He underwent matching surgeries to repair the issues.
Luis had doubts he would regain his athleticism.
A month after the surgery, he had trouble walking on his own. The pain was intense.
Gradually, the discomfort lessened, and he started practicing again in August.
“Shoutout to Dr. [Martin] O’Malley, he gave me new legs,” Luis said.
Luis returned a different player this winter — more explosive, more disciplined and a dynamic two-way force.
He finished the regular season fourth in the Big East in scoring (18.1), sixth in rebounding (7.1) and 10th in field goal percentage (44.6).
Of late, he has significantly improved his 3-point shooting, making them at a 36.7 percent clip since Jan. 11.
Most importantly, he directly impacted winning as one of the Johnnies’ closers, alongside Kadary Richmond.
“Like Coach Pitino says, when you play for the name on the front, the name on the back is going to prosper,” Luis said, “and I’m just an example of that.”
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