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.
However, there appears to be no chance of the 19-year-old Australian, a predicted first-round draft pick in 2024, returning in time for the squad’s highly anticipated clash with No. 6 Baylor in New York City’s Madison Square Garden next Wednesday night.
After all, second-year Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer underlined to the media following the Hofstra game that the program’s plan is not to rush Proctor back:
“He’s making good progress.” Today he was on the court. He simply cannot explode.
“Look, we’re going to be extremely cautious with him. And he’s doing everything he can to help. He’s off the crutches, which is a huge accomplishment. He was using crutches for nearly a week.
“And he can do stationary shooting — but no movement at this point.” Again, he must be able to do so for an extended amount of time before even considering 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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