Duke basketball’s Tyrese Proctor receives positive news regarding potential return from injury

After Duke basketball junior guard Tyrese Proctor sustained a knee injury during the first half of the Blue Devils’ 97-60 victory at Miami on February 26th, there was lots of worry whether the injury could potentially be season-ending as Proctor landed awkwardly on his knee, and those kinds of injuries with little contact are very scary to watch.

But, good news came out the next day as it was revealed that Proctor was dealing with a bone bruise in his knee with no structural damage. This was a big sigh of relief for the veteran guard and the rest of the Duke program.

Now, there are more positive updates on Proctor’s injury and the junior could be back in the lineup sooner rather than later.

On ESPN College GameDay this past Saturday in Gainesville, Florida, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that Proctor would miss Duke’s Saturday night contest against Florida State, but could return in the near future.

“The good news for the Blue Devils is that Proctor’s injury is not considered structural. Jon Scheyer called it a ‘pain tolerance issue’ this week, he’s expected back for the late regular season and the postseason.”

The Blue Devils went on to win handily against Seminoles, routing FSU 100-65 at home. Duke has now won its last six games by an average margin of 31.3 points. Utter domination from Scheyer’s group as of late.

Freshman Isaiah Evans started the matchup against the Seminoles in place of Proctor, going for a team-high 19 points in 24 minutes of action. Evans only went 6-of-17 from the field and 4-of-13 shooting from three-point range, but his confidence is assuredly up and he’ll look to continue to find his groove as he remains in the starting lineup before Proctor’s return.

The Blue Devils dealt with another injury scare against Florida State as freshman phenom Cooper Flagg went down with an eye injury in the first half. However, Flagg was able to return in the second half of the game.

“I’ve never seen him look scared,” Scheyer said about Flagg’s injury after the win. “He was scared at first, rightfully so because you don’t know how serious. Is it permanent, is it not? So I was really relieved when the medical team shared the news because I was really nervous about him.”

Next up for Duke (26-3, 17-1 ACC) is a home game against Wake Forest (20-9, 12-6 ACC) on March 3rd (7:00pm ET, ESPN).