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Jon Scheyer Teared Up Discussing Tyrese Proctor's Journey at Duke

Ryan Phillips

Duke head coach Jon Scheyer speaks to the media after his team's 89-66 win over Baylor in the 2025 NCAA tournament.
Duke head coach Jon Scheyer speaks to the media after his team's 89-66 win over Baylor in the 2025 NCAA tournament. / Via NCAA March Madness on
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Tyrese Proctor had an incredible showing to help lift Duke to the Sweet 16 on Sunday. After the game, his coach got emotional discussing the junior's ups and downs at Duke.

Duke hammered Baylor 89-66 in the second round of the 2025 NCAA tournament, and Proctor led the way for the Blue Devils. He had a game-high 25 points while shooting 9-of-10 from the field and 7-of-8 from three-point range. In the process he became the first player to hit five threes in each of his first two games of the NCAA tournament since his head coach, Jon Scheyer.

After the game, Scheyer was asked about Proctor's huge game and he teared up discussing the star guard’s journey since arriving on campus in 2022.

Proctor, an Australian who attended the NBA Global Academy, was one of the top players in the 2023 recruiting class but, in consultation with Scheyer, decided to reclassify to the 2022 class and join Duke early. He struggled early in his career but has developed into one of the team's leaders as a junior. He was named third-team All-ACC this season.

"I think it's what I'm most proud of, or as proud of anything with the journey Tyrese and I have been on because it's harder to go through those journeys now," Scheyer said before getting choked up. "I think we knew there would be some rough patches."

Scheyer added that it would have been easy for Proctor to jump to the NBA after his freshman year, or leave Duke after a disappointing sophomore season. Instead he hung around and is now a huge piece of this Blue Devils team that looks poised to make a run at the national championship.

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Ryan Phillips
RYAN PHILLIPS

Ryan Phillips is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in digital media since 2009, spending eight years at The Big Lead before joining SI in 2024. Phillips also co-hosts The Assembly Call Podcast about Indiana Hoosiers basketball and previously worked at Bleacher Report. He is a proud San Diego native and a graduate of Indiana University’s journalism program.

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