Tyrese Proctor injury update: Duke star's status revealed ahead of Florida State game

ESPN’s Pete Thamel provided an injury update on Duke star Tyrese Proctor ahead of Saturday’s clash with the Florida State Seminoles inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.

According to the ESPN analyst, Proctor will be out of tonight’s game: “Some breaking news, Tyrese Proctor is out tonight against Florida State for Duke with that bone-bruise in his knee. 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,” Thamel reported. “He’s expected back for the late regular season and the postseason.

“For Duke, Isaiah Evans has been on a hot streak. He started the second half against Miami the other night for the Blue Devils. He’s hit thirteen 13 of his last 19 threes. He’ll see if he can keep that going against the Seminoles tonight.”

While it’s always disappointing to see a player of Proctor’s caliber miss some time, his mother confirmed earlier this week that there was no structural damage to his leg, so at least that was a good thing: “Thankfully he has no breaks or ligament damage, just bone bruising,” Melissa Proctor tweeted.

“I know he’ll tackle this like he does everything, focusing on rehab so he can be back on the court with his team really soon.”

The Duke star exited after the first half in the 97-60 win for No. 2 Duke over the Hurricanes on Tuesday. In getting back to play transition defense, he clearly tweaked something as he limped off of the court following the play and did not play in the second half.

Since then, Tyrese Proctor received testing that confirmed it was just the bone bruise, which Thamel noted.

“Basically, it’s about his pain tolerance and it’s about his movement and strengthening,” Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said on his radio show on Wednesday. “We’ll be very cautious with that and smart. I don’t want to give an exact timetable because it depends on how we can get him moving over the next days or weeks or however long it takes. But we’re gonna get him back, which is the most important thing.”

Moreover, Proctor is having a career-best season as a junior and the lead guard of the Blue Devils. He’s averaging 11.8 points (43.7% FG, 40.8% 3PT on 2.3 threes per game), 3.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists over their 28 games. That has him third in scoring and three-point percentages and fourth in assists on the team.

All told, Proctor will be very important in the coming weeks for Duke. The Blue Devils are 25-3 (16-1) overall as one of the best teams in college basketball. With that, they have three games left in the regular season before their postseason begins where they’ll likely be the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament and are all but certain to be a No. 1 seed come the NCAA Tournament.

Having Tyrese Proctor, the most experienced player in Durham, back in time for March will now be a difference in their title hopes, both in conference and nationally.

— On3’s Sam Gillenwater contributed to this article.