Tyrese Proctor is the only remaining Duke starter from the Blue Devils’ Elite 8 run last year.
They lost in a heartbreaker to conference opponent NC State, who went on a Cinderella run to the Final Four. Proctor struggled in the 76-64 defeat, shooting 0-9 from the field and finished with a zero in the box score.
But in this year’s tournament, Proctor put it all behind him.
He posted a 19-point, five assist night against Mount St. Mary’s in the opening round, but saved his best for the next round.
Against a talented team of draft prospects and veteran players, including Cooper Flagg’s former high school point guard Rob Wright and former Duke guard Jeremy Roach, the Australian junior was unconscious on Sunday afternoon.
Proctor scored a team-high 25 points on 9-10 shooting from the field and drained seven triples to lead the top-seeded Blue Devils to an 89-66 rout over the Baylor Bears, earning a trip to the Sweet 16.
Freshman phenom Cooper Flagg—who graced the cover of SLAM—finished with a near triple-double, posting 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Experts and fans alike can finally agree that it’s safe to say the ankle injury isn’t bothering him anymore.
Kon Knueppel rounded out Duke’s double-digit scorers, dropping 12 points on an efficient 4-5 from the field.
Projected lottery pick VJ Edgecombe led the Bears with 16 points, while Norchad Omier’s consecutive double-double streak of 10 games finally came to a close. The Miami transfer finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. Langston Love and Wright each finished with 11 points and Roach contributed seven points off the bench against his former team.
The game was tightly contested for the majority of the first half. Neither team could pull away from one another, keeping any lead to within single digits. However, the wheels fell off for Baylor towards the end of the opening frame.
With Duke clinging to a 35-30 lead with three minutes left in the first half, the Blue Devils went on a 12-0 run to enter halftime up 17.
Flagg scored a layup, dunk and drained a three, Sion James and Patrick Ngongba made free throws and Caleb Foster hit a jumper to crush any momentum Baylor had.
“When we stick to our defense, stick to our habits, we’re a really hard team to score on. Once we started getting loose balls and rebounds, we could push in transition and play our offense,” Proctor said.
Baylor could never recover from the momentum shift. Duke outscored the Bears 42-36 in the second half, and maintained a double-digit lead for the entire 20 minutes of play.
The Blue Devils dominated on the offensive end, shooting 64.4% from the field and 54.5% from deep. They also converted 19 free throws at an 82.6% clip. On the defensive end, they held the Bears to 36.8% shooting from the field and 32% from deep. They played physical on-ball defense, contesting without fouling, only allowing 10 free throw attempts for Baylor. Only two Baylor players—Omier and Edgecombe—shot above 50% from the field for the game.
“To win by this margin, I think speaks to the level of killer instinct that our guys have, the competitiveness and the connectivity,” Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said. “Sweet 16 sounds great, we know it’s a quick turnaround, but we’re going to enjoy this one tonight and then get back to it.”
Duke will now face off against a familiar foe donning a different jersey. The Blue Devils will take on Caleb Love and the Arizona Wildcats in the Sweet 16 on Thursday.
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