Tyrese Proctor injury update: Jon Scheyer explains decision to start Duke guard vs. Wake Forest

Tyrese Proctor returned to Duke‘s lineup on Monday night against Wake Forest less than a week after suffering a bone bruise last week against Miami.

The junior guard finished the game with 12 points, four rebounds and two assists during the 93-60 blowout victory in Durham. After the win, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer revealed the decision behind starting the recently injury Proctor against the Demon Deacons.

“It’s another step for Tyrese showing us the competitive competitor that he is,” Scheyer explained. “We felt very safe with him playing because of the work that our medical team did, getting all the imaging. It was stable. It wasn’t about we wouldn’t have put him out there or risked anything. We had to be completely safe. We knew there would be rust, though. I mean, he hasn’t practiced in I think about five days or something like that.

“His toughness, what he means to our team is so, so big. Even if he wasn’t necessarily — like, he missed the layup. He still played a really good game, but he’s not going to go 1 of 6 [shooting] all the time. So to get that out and to play through the rust and just give himself up for his teammates, I think that’s a credit to him as a leader and competitor.”

Proctor was injured toward the end of the first half during Duke’s 97-60 win at Miami last week. There appeared to be real concern for the Duke guard as he limped off the floor but Jon Scheyer later confirmed it was nothing more than a bone bruise with no structural damage to his leg.

He ended up missing Duke’s last game over the weekend, at 100-65 against Florida State. However, that was the only game he missed after making his return during the Blue Devils’ home finale.

Coming into the matchup, Proctor averaged 11.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists. His points per game average, as well as his rebounds, three-point percentage and steals per game are all career-highs while he also has career-best percentages from the field. He’s currently third on the team in scoring behind Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel.

Next up for Duke is Saturday’s regular season finale on the road against North Carolina. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. ET and will air live on ESPN as the Blue Devils look to sweep the regular season series against the Tar Heels.