Rick Pitino explains sitting RJ Luis Jr. vs. Arkansas

This was a St. John’s season with a lot of good things to remember. The final scene — the NCAA Tournament second-round loss to Arkansas — and its aftermath are not among them.

Red Storm coach Rick Pitino removed Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis Jr., who had shot 3-for-17, from the game with 4:56 left and never brought him back into what became a 75-66 loss in Providence. Within a week, Luis declared for the NBA Draft and preserved the option of returning to college basketball by putting his name in the NCAA transfer portal, and Pitino said he would not be returning to St. John’s.

VICE TV aired the final bonus segment of “Pitino: Red Storm Rising” on Thursday night, and Luis and Pitino spoke about how things unfolded.

“RJ was the MVP of the league . . . We wouldn’t have been in this situation without RJ [and] we are deeply appreciative of all his efforts,” Pitino said of removing him from the game. “But that being said, it was the right move because of where he was mentally. He just had one of those John Starks nights where he couldn’t make a shot. He was forcing shots, and it was affecting the rest of his game.

“He was not only getting down about his game, he wasn’t playing the defense we needed,” he added. “He wasn’t playing the transition defense we need. He wasn’t blocking out. All the missed shots and the forced shots were affecting him.”

Luis gave the Razorbacks credit but was mostly at a loss to explain his performance.

“I just came off the best two weeks of my life: We just won the conference championship, [I] just won Player of the Year, [we] had a great first-round game,” he said. “And then in the second round, just, I couldn’t shoot a ball into the ocean.”

He added, “The last five minutes of the game, I wasn’t in the game. It was very difficult. Obviously, nobody wants to play their last game and not play. But as difficult as it was for me, it was probably more difficult for the seniors on the team [Kadary Richmond, Aaron Scott and Deivon Smith].”

In a scene shot at the night film session before the Arkansas game, Pitino made it clear how much was at stake when he said, “If we beat them, we will win the national championship. This is the most athletic team we will face. There’s other great teams, but if we beat them, we will win it all.”

Pitino had said throughout the season that Luis would be a great pro and a likely first-round NBA pick, so it was no surprise that he declared for the draft. His decision to also put his name in the portal was something Pitino said last week was “smart” and gave him something to “fall back on.”

“As an athlete, you want to compete at the highest level, and the next step is definitely declare for the draft and try to live out my lifelong dream of playing in the NBA,” Luis said. “I’m truly grateful for Coach Pitino — what I’ve accomplished this year doesn’t happen without him. No matter what happened in the tournament, they can’t ever take away those two championships that we won.”

“RJ is going to be a terrific pro; I’ve said it many times,” Pitino said. “He will not be back with us. I, personally, think it would be a mistake for him to come back to any school. I think he should try to make it in the NBA.”

As painful as the final scene against Arkansas was, Pitino has no regrets about sitting down his star.

“[It was] the right decision not playing RJ Luis in that game — 100%,” he said. “It was 100% the right move for the team and for us winning. Believe me, it wasn’t something like ‘I’m going to teach this young man a lesson’ because he was missing shots. No, he was forcing a lot of moves. They were playing great defense on him. It was the right move. I’m not bothered by that at all.”

Guard to visit. Stanford point guard Oziyah Sellers, who has put his name in the NCAA transfer portal, plans to visit St. John’s at the end of next week, according to CBS Sports Network.