After a breakout season with the Stony Brook men’s basketball team, guard C.J. Luster II is moving on from Long Island.
In a Wednesday Instagram post, Luster II announced that he would transfer to the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) — a Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) rival of the Seawolves and the reigning conference champion.
In the midst of one of the worst seasons in program history, Luster II was a rare bright spot for Stony Brook. After spending the first two seasons of his collegiate career at the JUCO level, Luster II was the Seawolves’ best player in the 2024-25 campaign. He ranked fourth in the league in scoring (16.8 points per game) on 42.1% shooting from three-point range — the third-best mark in the CAA — en route to a 2024-25 All-CAA Third Team selection.
In Luster II’s lone contest against his new squad this past year, he dropped 15 points and knocked down a pair of threes in an 80-70 Stony Brook loss on Feb. 1, 2025.
Following the Seawolves’ First Round elimination from the 2025 CAA Championship, Luster II quickly entered the transfer portal. Earlier this month, he announced his top 10 schools — a list that included four Power Four programs. Nonetheless, he chose the Seahawks over Arizona State, Boston College, DePaul, Loyola Maryland, LSU, New Mexico, Stony Brook, UCLA and Wichita State.
This past season, UNCW claimed a conference-record seventh title, punching its ticket to March Madness with a win over Delaware in the championship game. It was defeated by third-seeded Texas Tech — who reached the Elite Eight — in the national tournament’s First Round. Even before signing Luster II, the Seahawks have been busy in the portal, picking up forward Gavin Walsh — a 2024-25 All-Conference Third Team honoree — from America East’s Binghamton.
Luster II’s departure comes two years after forward Frankie Policelli — another Seawolves standout — was poached by Charleston, also a league opponent of Stony Brook’s. Policelli started in the Cougars’ 2024 CAA Championship title game victory over the Seawolves.
After an 8-24 campaign, head coach Geno Ford will have questions to answer and positions to fill. He has already lost Luster II, with guard Jared Frey and forwards Jeremiah Nyarko and Nick Woodard remaining in the portal. Additionally, forwards Andre Snoddy and Ben Wight both are set to graduate at the end of the academic year, leaving Stony Brook with a mostly empty roster.
With UNCW, Luster II will get a chance to compete for a CAA Championship while the Seawolves are left to figure out what their roster will look like going forward.
