3 Duke Blue Devils on Thin Ice After Embarrassing Loss to NC State
By Joe Summers
2. Tyrese Proctor
As much as Roach struggled, Tyrese Proctor was even worse. He made only 4-of-16 shots and committed three fouls. Proctor added seven rebounds and five assists to his 10 points, but the dismal shooting effort continually stymied Duke's offense down the stretch.
The Blue Devils are not an elite defensive team. They rank 90th nationally in opponent effective field goal percentage (49%) and need to beat teams by scoring. Duke is also 147th in free throw rate (33.8%), meaning those points need to come by making shots.
When Roach struggles and Proctor goes 4-of-16, the Blue Devils have virtually no chance to win. Kyle Filipowski put up 28 points and 14 rebounds while Mark Mitchell added 18 points and it didn't even matter because of the poor guard play.
I don't care that this wasn't an assist, I love this play by Tyrese Proctor. Explosion out of the screen with quick handles, then finds the open shooter through off-ball traffic
— Rich (@MavsDraft) March 7, 2024
Given the context of his game, I felt this one game was really impressive. Full words coming today pic.twitter.com/sbjaBU1FRE
To Proctor's credit, he did not turn the ball over and is still perhaps the best distributor on the team. He's got one or fewer turnovers in seven of his last nine games, giving Duke's offense some stability even when his shot isn't falling.
Even still, that shot needs to fall given the construction of this roster. Proctor is capable of lighting up the scoreboard and he'll need to if Duke is going to compete moving forward.