Duke basketball guard Tyrese Proctor is off the crutches but is likely still weeks away from being 100 percent.
Tyrese Proctor hasn’t played since spraining his left ankle early in the first half of Duke basketball’s road loss to Georgia Tech on Dec. 2, the second consecutive defeat at the hands of an unranked team.
Without Proctor in the lineup, the No. 21 Blue Devils (7-3, 0-1 ACC) are now 2-0, including Tuesday night’s 89-68 home victory over unranked Hofstra. Even so, to reach their full potential, one would think they’ll need the playmaker’s proven production as the starting point guard, including his 36-to-8 assist-to-turnover ratio this season.
But there’s seemingly no chance that the 19-year-old Australian, a projected 2024 first-round draft pick, returns in time for the squad’s highly anticipated battle against No. 6 Baylor in New York City’s Madison Square Garden next Wednesday night.
After all, in his latest Proctor update following the Hofstra game, second-year Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer reiterated to the media that the program’s plan is to not rush him back:
“He’s progressing well. He was on the court today. He really can’t explode at all.
“Look, we’re going to be very cautious with him. And he’s trying to do everything he can. He’s off the crutches, which is a great step. He was on the crutches for about a week or so.
“And he’s able to do stationary shooting — but really no movement at this point. Again, he has to be able to do that for a consecutive period of time before even thinking about playing.”
After playing Baylor, the Blue Devils have their longest break of the season before wrapping up their non-conference slate by hosting Queens in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Dec. 30.
It might be too ambitious to expect Tyrese Proctor’s return by then.
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