RALEIGH — Tyrese Proctor got shot-ready. He moved the ball, which he caught at chest-level, down to his waist then hoisted it to his chin, jumped and flicked his wrist.
Then for the fifth time — in a row — he sprinted away to the sound of swishing nylon and a crowd pop. A peek up at the scoreboard showed a 58-27 Duke lead. Proctor’s hand, scoring or assisting, responsible for 28 of those points.
Another three — his personal record-tying sixth — added the exclamation point before head coach Jon Scheyer motioned his way, inviting him to the bench. A student manager draped a damp March Madness-branded towel over his neck, and the junior guard peered back up at the scoreboard: 10:53 to play, his team up 73-41. He lounged in his chair, a grin creeping up his face.
No. 1-seed Duke’s eventual 93-49 shelling of Mount St. Mary’s in the first round of the NCAA Tournament was so dominant it became boring. But the healthy final margin against an inferior opponent should not distract from what this game meant for Proctor, nor his stellar performance that featured a 6-for-8 clip from three, 19 total points and five assists.
He shot off the blocks with a pair of tough threes and a fast-break lay-off to Cooper Flagg that earned an and-one — all in the opening three minutes. The other four threes Proctor would make throughout the course of the game came across the perimeter, both unguarded and under heavy pressure. Each went in because Proctor trusted himself to keep shooting, something Scheyer has stressed often this season.
“I think it's just the work I put in,” Proctor said when asked about how he keeps confidence in his shot. “That's the simple thing.”
The other four assists he registered ranged from kick-outs on prolonged possessions to bullet passes in transition, opportunities which he’d often help force as a result of his impenetrable 6-foot-6 defensive frame.
His plus-28 plus-minus in just 24 minutes also marks Friday as one of his most efficient outings, allowing him and the rest of the starting five to hit the bench for the entire last quarter of the game. Instead of sweating it out to bulge a 30-point lead to a 40-point lead, the only standing required of Proctor was to celebrate Darren Harris’ one-handed slam, Neal Begovich’s three and Spencer Hubbard’s layup.
The rest portion may go underrated, but the NCAA Tournament’s brutal scheduling ensures rapid turnaround times between games and little recovery. Any extra bit of rest is invaluable, especially when the next assignment is Scott Drew’s flashy, young and athletic Baylor team.
“It’s big for our bodies going into Sunday’s game,” Proctor said. “I just can’t wait for that one.”
Friday was, in more ways than one, the culmination of years of work, success and struggle. The type of game, at least symbolically, some may have been waiting to see from the veteran Aussie, who has at times flattered to deceive in “big” games.
“I just thought that these guys were incredibly mature, without necessarily even playing in the NCAA Tournament,” Scheyer said Friday. “Besides Tyrese and Mason (Gillis).”
That last part is important. The junior guard is the only prominent Duke returner to have featured in last year’s Big Dance, a tournament that, in the span of two days, featured one of the best wins Proctor has ever taken part of, and maybe the worst loss.
Thirty-eight minutes of defensive excellence and understated but crucial offensive contributions spurred Proctor and the Blue Devils past No. 1-seed Houston, just 48 hours before a brutal Elite Eight loss to N.C. State. Proctor’s four rebounds and four assists weren’t enough to counteract his 0-for-9 rate from the floor that day.
“As soon as that [N.C. State] game ended, it was on my mind. It's the reason I came back,” Proctor said Friday. “I think going into this game, I just wanted to play at a high level. And that comes with scoring, that comes with sharing the ball and stuff like that, but I think it did fuel me.”
That much is obvious. Proctor knows the margins of March, when those margins are life-or-death. Which is why his ability to make himself more bulletproof through the downs and sparkling through the ups during his third year at Duke has been so remarkable.
The Blue Devils’ 77-71 loss at Clemson in February is a good example of the former. Proctor had 23 points in that game, almost the sole reason Duke was competitive until Flagg fired up in the dying minutes. Last week’s ACC Tournament championship against Louisville is a good example of the latter, where he also had 19 points and six threes, pacing his team to its second ACC title in three years.
And with the banner that ended his sophomore season hanging in the Lenovo Center rafters, Proctor’s early minutes Friday contended for his best-ever.
Yes, Mount St. Mary’s is one of the worst teams in the tournament field. Yes, Duke entered as overwhelming favorites. Praising Proctor’s productivity and assuredness doesn’t make any of that less true.
Since reclassifying to join Duke a year early, Proctor has put on muscle and grown an inch. He’s found his voice on the court (he yelled furiously for the ball when open on the perimeter Friday and screamed for switches on defense) and is more exuberant on the sidelines, chanting along with the crowd and copying the band’s dance instructions.
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That his changes as a person coincide with his growth as a player is no coincidence. Proctor is filling in, literally and schematically, and for it has become one of the most vital cogs in a Duke basketball machine poised as well as anyone to hang a banner come April.
Scheyer needs more games like this and more trust in Proctor’s work if his Blue Devils are to realize their goals. And even if lofty numbers like Friday’s may not carry over from game to game, Proctor’s confidence, chemistry with his teammates and the extended rest he awarded them absolutely can.
Andrew Long is a Trinity senior and recruitment/social chair of The Chronicle's 120th volume. He was previously sports editor for Volume 119.