Right before he played his first college game, Tyrese Proctor played in a secret scrimmage.
Duke played against Houston as a warm-up for the 2022-23 campaign, Proctor’s freshman season. There were no media present. No video surfaced from the game. Stats were never released. Hence the name “secret scrimmage.”
Three years later, someone talked. The secret is out. Proctor struggled mightily against the Cougar defense.
“You could tell he was a freshman,” said Houston coach Kelvin Sampson.
“He came in as a boy,” said Jon Scheyer. “You throw him into the fire against Houston. Probably the worst and the best thing we could have done.”
Now, Proctor is one of the keys to Duke’s offense. His torrid outside shooting in the ACC Tournament and the early rounds of March Madness kept Duke rolling along, even in the face of injuries to Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown.
No longer a freshman, no longer a boy, Tyrese Proctor is a problem for opposing defense.
“I think the guy that doesn’t get talked about enough is Proctor,” said Sampson. “Seen his numbers? Guy is shooting 64% from the floor. He’s shooting higher than that from the three. Now when you look at him, he’s elite in every area. But the area that he’s improved the most in is his toughness. Proctor is tough.”
Scheyer agrees. “I think he just has shown so much toughness throughout his three years,” he said. “He’s playing at such a high level ’cause he’s as good of a two-way guard to me as there is in college. What he does on the defensive end, how he’s been ready to shoot, his play making, toughness. He’s just become a complete guard.
“In order to become that, you have to go through some moments like that day at Houston. So I feel so confident having Tyrese on our team. Just for him, just going through those moments, he’s become even tougher and better.”
