Duke basketball gets good injury news as Blue Devils close home season with win
Just six days after limping off the court at Miami with a knee injury, Tyrese Proctor returned to the starting lineup for No. 2 Duke and helped the Blue Devils pound Wake Forest, 93-60, on Monday night.
The 6-5 junior guard missed Duke’s 100-65 win over Florida State on Saturday due to a bone bruise in his left knee that he suffered in last Tuesday’s 97-60 win over the Hurricanes. Proctor had started all 28 games for the Blue Devils before not suiting up for their easy win over the Seminoles.
But he was adamant that would be the last game he missed this season.
“I love basketball,” Proctor said. “It’s as simple as that. I just want to come out here and play every game I can. I’m not gonna be 100% all the time. I think just coming out and supporting my team is a big thing.”
Proctor played 24 minutes, scoring 12 points with two assists while making 5 of 11 shots overall.
“It’s another step of Tyrese just showing the competitor that he is,” Scheyer said “We felt very safe with him playing because of the work that our medical team did. Getting all the imaging, it was stable. We wouldn’t have put him out of there or risked anything.”
Since it was a pain tolerance issue, rather than the joint being unstable, Proctor had every intention of returning to the Blue Devils’ lineup as soon as possible even if he wasn’t 100% pain free.
“I’m good to go,” Proctor said with a chuckle, “as soon as they said it was a pain tolerance thing. I’ve played through some pretty bad injuries. Just in the training room all the time in the last couple days. Got it treated, and it felt comfortable.”
His return allowed Duke to restore its most-used starting lineup this season, which includes Proctor, Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, Sion James and Khaman Maluach. The Blue Devils (27-3, 18-1 ACC) are now 21-1 when those five start a game.
Even though Proctor wasn’t at his best, as evidenced by him going 1 of 6 on 3-pointers, Scheyer said the junior guard showed his teammates toughness.
“His toughness, what he means to our team, it’s so big,” Scheyer said. “He missed a layup. I mean, he played a really good game, but he’s not gonna go 1 for 6 all the time. So to get that out, to play through the rust and just give himself up for his teammates, I think that’s a credit to him as a leader, competitor, and we needed him tonight.”
While Duke got Proctor back, it remained without 6-9 junior forward Maliq Brown, who missed his fourth consecutive game due to the dislocated shoulder he suffered during an 80-62 win at Virginia on Feb. 17. Brown was once again not in uniform.
This story was originally published March 3, 2025 at 6:14 PM.