Just moments after hitting the 1,000 point mark for his career, junior guard Tyrese Proctor was helped to the locker room with a knee injury late in the first half.
After the teams returned to the court to restart the second half, a team spokesperson confirmed to the ESPN broadcast crew the 6-foot-5 combo guard would not return.
Proctor has started all 28 games to date for head coach Jon Scheyer’s team and is enjoying a career best season, averaging 12.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per games while shooting 44 percent from the field and 41 percent from the outside for the Blue Devils. He’s also been the team’s top perimeter defender, often checking the opponents’ best wing or backcourt player.
Against the Hurricanes he was backpedaling in an attempt to defend a drive to the hoop by Miami’s Divine Ugochukwu when the two appeared to bang knees in mid air. As Proctor came down his left knee appeared to buckle which sent the Australian product limping to the baseline. Referee Ted Valentine immediately stopped the game to allow Duke to sub their guard who immediately went to the locker room and was not seen again for the rest of the contest.
If he has to miss any time, Proctor would join classmate Maliq Brown – widely considered Duke’s top post defender – on the sideline with only three regular season games remaining.
With Proctor on the shelf, the Blue Devils were able to give extended minutes to freshman Isaiah Evans and sophomore Caleb Foster, both of whom reached double figures as the Blue Devils easily beat Miami, 97-60. Evans hit five of six three point attempts in the first half on his way to 16 points while Foster played extended minutes after intermission, going four of six from teh field and 2-of-2 from the outside to finish with 10 points.
Kon Knueppel led all scorers with 20 while Cooper Flagg added 16 points, five rebounds, and six assists to help Duke improve to 25-3 overall and 16-1 in league play.
During the post game news conference, head coach Jon Scheyer was reserved in providing an update on Proctor, stating his guard would receive diagnostic imaging when the team returned to Durham.
“He’s tough,” said Scheyer on the program’s postgame broadcast. “He got hit on the leg, we’ve got to get him some imaging and we’ll go from there.”
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