WVU Basketball

5 Things to Know Before WVU vs. St. John’s

Published

5 months ago

December 1, 2023

West Virginia and St. John’s will match up in the Big East-Big 12 Battle on Friday night in Morgantown. Let’s take a look at five things to know before the game.

Meet the Opponent: St. John’s

St. John’s entered the season as one of the most intriguing teams with Rick Pitino back in the Big East. Pitino and his staff at SJU recruited a lot from the transfer portal as they pushed out a lot of the Mike Anderson players. On paper, the Red Storm brought in a great transfer class highlighted by Chris Ledlum (F – Harvard/Tennessee), Jordan Dingle (G – Penn) as well as Pitino’s Iona players. SJU also returned leading scorer Joel Soriano.

Through six games, St. John’s is 4-2 with wins over Stony Brook, North Texas, Utah and Holy Cross with their two losses coming to Michigan and Dayton.

SJU scores 79.8 points per game so far while being one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country (17.3 per game).

RJ Luis Out for St. John’s

St. John’s guard RJ Luis (shin) will miss Friday’s game against West Virginia, the basketball program announced. SJU HC Rick Pitino expected Luis to start against WVU but another injury has hindered his chances of playing until late-December.

UPDATE: Red Storm sophomore RJ Luis Jr. will miss a minimum of two weeks to allow shins to heal. Projected late December return to the lineup.
— St. John's Men’s Basketball (@StJohnsBBall) December 1, 2023

Luis (6-foot-7) dealt with a broken left hand early in the season. Luis, a transfer from UMass, made his season debut against Holy Cross on Sunday, scoring 14 points in 15 minutes.