Duke guard Tyrese Proctor has been good this season, but has shown inconsistency at times. Following an Elite Eight exit that saw the junior go scoreless, basketball beats Rodrigo Amare and Dom Fenoglio discuss what the Blue Devils will need from him to make a deeper run this time around:
Point: Tyrese Proctor’s third-year development has shown his potential as a top two-way guard, and will lift Duke in March
Coming into the 2024-25 season, Proctor was one of the most talked about pieces of Duke’s roster. The Aussie took a step back instead of a leap forward during his second season, suffering from a sophomore slump made worse by injury and missed time. And when the Blue Devils’ season came to an end against in-state rival N.C. State in the Elite Eight, the guard was the one that received a lot of the finger pointing.
In the locker room after that game, Proctor draped a towel over his head and sat in complete silence while the media spent its allotted time interviewing the rest of the team. Like all sports, basketball is largely a mental endeavor, and he desperately needed to get out of his own head.
Well, it sure looks like he has. Proctor’s 12.0 points per game, 43.8% field-goal clip and 41.1% mark from behind the arc this season are all career highs. Especially in recent weeks, Proctor plays with the confidence of someone who has found his groove. He rises without hesitation from three, makes decisive moves off the dribble and never hangs his head after a miss.
A major piece of Proctor’s renaissance needs to be credited to head coach Jon Scheyer. The third-year play caller had him man the point for each of his first two seasons in Durham, but decided to move Proctor off the ball, delegating main ball-handling duties to graduate guard Sion James.
At the beginning of the year, this slightly hampered Proctor’s aggressiveness. The 6-foot-6 sharpshooter would often wait in the corner without initiating much offense of his own. However, as Proctor has grown more comfortable in a complimentary role — similar to that of Jeremy Roach last season — his game has flourished.
This change may be even more important to Proctor’s defensive prowess. Without the added responsibilities as point guard, Proctor has more energy to put in on defense. As much credit rightfully goes to Cooper Flagg and Khaman Maluach for protecting Duke’s paint, Proctor has helped anchor a perimeter defense that rarely allows a clean look and often creates turnovers.
For example, Proctor came up with a steal on the opening possession of the Blue Devils’ game against Clemson, then came off a flare screen on the ensuing possession for a made triple. When he is able to build his confidence on the defensive end, it opens the door for him to show off on offense.
The final key difference between sophomore year and junior year Proctor is his maturity through adversity. A perfect example is the Wake Forest game.
The Sydney native had gone 1-for-11 through the first 37 minutes of the game, including multiple missed layups. Then, with just a four-point lead and the shot clock bleeding towards zero, Proctor nearly fell to the ground for a costly turnover. All signs pointed towards another winnable game the Blue Devils would lose on account of Proctor’s mistakes. Instead, he composed himself and lined up a crucial triple that put Duke ahead 56-49 with 2:15 remaining.
Proctor is no longer a cause for the Blue Devils’ losses, he is a key reason for their victories. Ever since that fateful Elite Eight game, he has been on a mission. It’s a mission of redemption, vengeance and pride. It’s a mission to prove all of the haters wrong. It’s a mission Proctor sees ending with a banner hanging from the rafters of Cameron Indoor Stadium. -Dom Fenoglio
Counterpoint: Proctor must remedy his offensive inconsistencies for Duke to make a legitimate title charge
On his good days, Tyrese Proctor is the Blue Devils’ second-best player and one of the top two-way guards in the country. The junior routinely locks down each of the primary scorers Duke faces, and his raw athleticism, mesmerizing dribbling and shotmaking arsenal make him a legitimate offensive threat from anywhere on the floor.
Proctor’s supreme talent has been evident since his freshman season, which begs the following question: How has a 6-foot-6 supremely athletic guard, who boasts elite skill on both ends of the floor, not garnered more consideration at the top of NBA draft boards? After all, Proctor elected to stay in Durham after each of his first two years with Duke, and is only projected as a second-round pick in ESPN’s latest 2025 mock draft.
Simply put, throughout his college career, Proctor’s persistent shooting inconsistencies have impeded both his individual success and the Blue Devils’ offense as a whole. Last season, his imbalanced scoring often reared its ugly end at the most inopportune moments. The Sydney native infamously put up a goose egg in Duke’s Elite Eight collapse to N.C. State, shooting 0-of-9 from the field and missing five threes.
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In the Blue Devils’ nine losses in the 2023-24 season, Proctor averaged just 7.3 points on 29.8% shooting and 26.7% from 3-point range. Comparing those figures with the losing averages of fellow guards Jared McCain — 15.2 points, 42.2% shooting and 37.0% from behind the arc — and Jeremy Roach — 15.8 points, 45.7% shooting and 50% from deep — the correlation between Proctor’s offensive contributions and Duke’s success becomes evident.
To his credit, the junior’s offensive efficiency has vastly improved since last year; Proctor’s 3-point shooting rate has jumped from 35.2% to 41.1% on increased volume, ranking eighth in the ACC among players who attempt at least two threes per game.
Yet, Proctor’s shooting has remained volatile despite its overall improvement. Before the guard’s recent seven-point outing in the Blue Devils’ win at Virginia, he embarked on a fiery five-game stretch, scoring 19.4 points per game on 53.8% shooting and 48.6% from three. However, in four of five games before that spectacular run of form, the Australian scored just three, zero, six and four points, with a 20-point outing at Boston College sandwiched in between.
Proctor’s shooting transforms the potency of Duke’s offense. Without it, the Blue Devils become one-dimensional and highly reliant on Flagg’s individual abilities. But when the junior guard finds his shooting touch, Duke terrorizes opposing defenses by maximizing its spacing.
Fortunately for Duke, the ACC's unusual weakness this year has allowed the Blue Devils to persist during Proctor’s rough stretches, winning each of the junior’s single-digit outings. That likely won’t be the case against higher-quality opposition in March.
Admittedly, offensive inconsistencies plague most college basketball players, at least those not named Flagg; each of the freshman trio of Kon Knueppel, Maluach and Isaiah Evans have endured up-and-down stretches throughout the 2024-25 campaign. The increased emphasis on Proctor comes from his experience as one of the longest-tenured players on Duke’s roster, and his magnified importance for the Blue Devil attack. Similar to the classic "Spider-Man" adage, with great talent comes great responsibility.
The Blue Devils’ postseason success this year hinges on Proctor’s offensive impact. He must be at his best come tournament time, lest the detrimental trends of years past reemerge, vanquishing Duke’s dreams of a sixth national championship. -Rodrigo Amare
Dom Fenoglio is a Trinity junior and a sports managing editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.
Rodrigo Amare is a Trinity sophomore and assistant Blue Zone editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.