Tyrese Proctor had an incredible showing to help lift Duke to the Sweet 16 on Sunday. After the game, his coach got emotional discussing the junior's ups and downs at Duke.
Duke hammered Baylor 89-66 in the second round of the 2025 NCAA tournament, and Proctor led the way for the Blue Devils. He had a game-high 25 points while shooting 9-of-10 from the field and 7-of-8 from three-point range. In the process he became the first player to hit five threes in each of his first two games of the NCAA tournament since his head coach, Jon Scheyer.
After the game, Scheyer was asked about Proctor's huge game and he teared up discussing the star guard’s journey since arriving on campus in 2022.
Proctor, an Australian who attended the NBA Global Academy, was one of the top players in the 2023 recruiting class but, in consultation with Scheyer, decided to reclassify to the 2022 class and join Duke early. He struggled early in his career but has developed into one of the team's leaders as a junior. He was named third-team All-ACC this season.
"I think it's what I'm most proud of, or as proud of anything with the journey Tyrese and I have been on because it's harder to go through those journeys now," Scheyer said before getting choked up. "I think we knew there would be some rough patches."
"It's harder to go through those journeys now"@DukeMBB HC Jon Scheyer was emotional talking about the ups and downs Tyrese Proctor has endured 💙#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/KYvllq6BsZ
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 23, 2025
Scheyer added that it would have been easy for Proctor to jump to the NBA after his freshman year, or leave Duke after a disappointing sophomore season. Instead he hung around and is now a huge piece of this Blue Devils team that looks poised to make a run at the national championship.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jon Scheyer Teared Up Discussing Tyrese Proctor's Journey at Duke.
