Duke’s freshman starters have been the story in Durham so far this season.
Obviously, a prospect of Cooper Flagg’s caliber becomes the talk of campus once he arrives, especially when he validated that hype with a 42-point game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach have looked the part of future lottery picks as well, and it’s easy for the Cameron Crazies to feel like they’re watching a new era of Blue Devils basketball with four fresh faces in the starting lineup.
But one of the team’s two returners, Tyrese Proctor, deserves his time in the spotlight as well. And after his 23-point outing against the Clemson Tigers this weekend and 18 points against the California Golden Bears on Wednesday, the junior is becoming harder and harder to ignore.
Proctor has scored at least 16 points in each of the Blue Devils’ last four games, averaging 18.5 points and shooting 44.8% from 3-point range on 7.3 attempts per night. He’s made at least three triples in the last three outings, and his 16 points in the first half against Clemson kept Duke within striking distance long enough for Flagg to catch fire.
For context, Proctor’s previous best four-game stretch of the season included just 13.3 points per night, and he’d only scored more than 16 once in the first 20 contests. In fact, the only comparable four-game stretch of his three-year career came last January when he averaged 17.5 points and made 46.4% of his threes, but even that spell included a 3/10 shooting game against Pittsburgh that resulted in just 11 points.
Proctor has taken on a different role this season, functioning more as an off-ball shooting threat thanks to the effectiveness of Flagg and Sion James running the point, but his passing prowess remains a potent part of the Duke offense. He’s dished multiple assists in eight of the Blue Devils’ last 11 games.
But even with his supporting role on paper, the Australian has averaged a career-high 9.5 shots and 5.8 3-point attempts per game, and he’s still on pace for personal bests in field-goal percentage (42.4%) and 3-point percentage (40.0%). His scoring average has jumped more than a point per game (10.5 in 2023-24 to 11.8 this season) despite playing fewer minutes.
To head coach Jon Scheyer, however, Proctor’s improvement is hard to quantify on the stat sheet.
“To me, it’s his look,” Scheyer said after Wednesday’s win. “He’s got a veteran’s look. Competitive, poised, tough.”
“We have a great connection,” the third-year coach continued. “Where when there’s something on the court that I think he should have done, he’s right there to say ‘I got you’, or vice versa. He may see something and tell me, and that’s what it should be. When you’ve been together for three years, you’ve gone through a lot.”
He might not draw as many ESPN segments as Flagg and the flashy freshmen, but a new and improved Tyrese Proctor shooting more efficiently and more often might just be the difference between a Final Four berth and a national title.
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