AP men’s player of the week: RJ Luis Jr. has big week as No. 9 St. John’s rises in poll

The Associated Press national player of the week in men’s college basketball for Week 14 of the season:

RJ Luis Jr., St. John’s

The ninth-ranked Red Storm have their highest ranking in 25 years and Luis has been a big reason. The 6-foot-7 junior led St. John’s to a pair of wins against ranked opponents with two big games last week.

Luis had 17 points, 11 rebounds, four steals and three blocked shots in a 70-64 victory over No. 18 Marquette on Tuesday. He followed that up by scoring six of his 21 points in the final 2 minutes, 16 seconds, including the game-sealing basket in the final seconds, of St. John’s 68-62 win over two-time reigning national champion UConn on Friday.

Luis leads St. John’s in scoring with 17.6 points per game and averages 6.8 rebounds.

Runner-up

Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue. The 6-9 junior averaged 24.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in a pair of wins last week. Kaufman-Renn shot 18 of 30 from the field and 11 of 12 on free throws while grabbing 11 offensive rebounds in the wins over Iowa and Southern California. He had 25 points and seven rebounds in the 90-81 victory at Iowa, then had 25 points and 10 rebounds in the 90-72 win over the Trojans.

Honorable mention

David N’Guessan, Kansas State; Elijah Mahi, Santa Clara; Terrence Edwards Jr., Louisville.

Keep an eye on

Jaron Pierre Jr., Jacksonville State. The 6-5 senior has led the Gamecocks to the top of Conference USA by filling up the stat sheet, averaging 21.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game.

Pierre scored 36 points, went 10 for 13 from 3, and had five rebounds and four assists in a 77-63 win over Middle Tennessee State. He followed up with 28 points, four rebounds and four assists in an 85-83 win over Western Kentucky.

Jacksonville State has a two-game lead over Liberty in Conference USA with games against Sam Houston and Louisiana Tech this week.

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By The Associated Press