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DALLAS — Tyrese Proctor requested Duke’s analytics crew this week for extra video of Houston main scorer L.J. Cryer. Proctor wished to know his tendencies. The place he likes the ball. How he will get his photographs.
It was time to rewrite a story.
That loss to Tennessee final 12 months within the second spherical, the one which made Duke look too comfortable to hold with a defensive-minded, bodily faculty basketball crew, it sat in Duke’s stomach like a late-night burrito. The Blue Devils have been reminded of it continually. It takes “grit and struggle” to beat groups like that one, Proctor would say, and the identical could be true in Friday night’s 54-51 Sweet 16 win against top-seeded Houston.
The Cougars have been the perfect defensive crew in faculty basketball for a lot of the season. Led by senior level guard Jamal Shead, the Coogs make the courtroom really feel just like the partitions are squeezing in. And Duke felt it within the opening minutes, turning the ball over 4 instances earlier than the primary media timeout.
A couple of minutes in, Duke coach Jon Scheyer known as timeout merely to inform his crew to settle down and settle in. It did, taking part in Houston even the following 11 minutes. Then, catastrophe struck for Houston. Shead raced round a ball display and into the paint, jump-stopping earlier than going up for a layup, and his proper foot turned inward earlier than it hit the ground, leaving him writhing in ache, a sprained ankle ending his season with 6 minutes, 53 seconds left within the first half and Houston forward 16-10. The very best defensive participant within the nation, finest chief, an All-American, sidelined.
It will be as much as Cryer to maintain Houston’s season alive, and the perfect defensive guard left within the sport made it his duty to guarantee that didn’t occur.
Another for THE FOUR
☔️☔️☔️☔️🕺🤠😈 pic.twitter.com/JqkzCKbx1G
— Duke Males’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) March 30, 2024
Cryer received rolling within the first half, selecting on Duke freshman Jared McCain, however when Houston wanted him to come back by down the stretch, it was Proctor who had the project.
Two possessions in a row, Cryer received the ball trailing by 4 with a possibility to place actual sport strain on Duke. On the primary possession, he received a step on Proctor and received to inside 13 toes when he picked up his dribble, trying to find a teammate with the shot clock ticking down. Proctor reached in from behind and took the ball away like large brother. Subsequent time down, he pushed Cryer off his spot and compelled him to catch it 30 toes from the basket. Cryer took 9 dribbles, sizing up Proctor after which crossed over on his tenth, from his left to proper, attempting to sneak previous Proctor towards the baseline. Proctor had seen that earlier than, counting on his psychological be aware and reaching out his left hand. He swiped the ball away, then dove on the ground and handed it to McCain.
“I believe I simply wished it extra,” Proctor mentioned. “It’s simply 50-50 balls on the finish of the day. And I used to be first on the ground on the 50-50 ball.”
Houston would get one remaining shot to tie it, attempting to free Cryer on a baseline out-of-bounds play with 8.9 seconds left. Proctor received screened and known as for a change and ended up on Emanuel Sharp, who received lobbed the ball. He used 4 dribbles to attempt to free himself of Proctor, however the sophomore Aussie stayed shut, sticking his two palms inches from the ball because it left Sharp’s palms. It clanked off the rim, giving Duke the win that had few fashion factors however is as satisfying as any.
“I got here again for a purpose,” Proctor mentioned. “And it wasn’t simply to play on this sport tonight. It was to get to a Ultimate 4. Have a possibility to win a nationwide championship.”
Younger groups not often obtain that, which is why it struck a nerve with Scheyer when his group’s toughness received questioned within the final 12 months.
“You don’t need to apologize for shedding within the event,” Scheyer mentioned, interjecting when his gamers received requested a kind of toughness questions after which mentioning he began 4 freshmen a 12 months in the past. “Among the criticism about toughness or no matter, attempt being at Duke as a freshman or sophomore and battling your ass off within the event after which speak to me about being robust. And so for me, these guys have proven each step of the way in which how robust they’re mentally, bodily.”
Duke is hardly outdated, however Scheyer has what’s near the right blue-blood roster make-up this time round, with five-stars Proctor, Kyle Filipowski and Mark Mitchell all returning for his or her sophomore seasons final offseason to go together with senior guard Jeremy Roach. Duke has one doubtless one-and-done freshman in McCain, which is okay as long as there’s expertise round a participant like that. It’s additionally helpful if that freshman just isn’t the go-to man, and sometimes, McCain just isn’t.
Proctor was the primary to determine to return to high school final spring, and his progress and ups and downs are what the school expertise ought to be. He struggled early final season offensively, however he shocked the Duke coaches and himself along with his protection.
“I wasn’t a defender in any respect earlier than coming to Duke in anyway,” mentioned Proctor, who reclassified in the summertime of 2022 to come back to Duke early.
About midway by his freshman season, Proctor began drawing the perfect perimeter scorer as a result of the coaches noticed him because the crew’s finest defender. The numbers backed it up too; Duke’s in-house analytics crew had Proctor within the ninety fifth percentile of on-ball defenders within the nation.
This season, Proctor began gradual once more, this time due to an ankle harm. He mentioned he discovered himself nervous concerning the unsuitable issues. So he simply received again to what he was targeted on on the finish of final season: “guarding and simply taking satisfaction in it.”
Houston made it a degree to go at others, clearly respecting Proctor’s defensive skills. Cryer scored 15 factors on 14 photographs, however solely two of these makes an attempt got here with Proctor guarding him. He made one, a contested buzzer-beating runner off the glass on the finish of the primary half. And Cryer received off solely three 3-pointers in opposition to Duke — none with Proctor on him — and that was a part of the sport plan.
“Our level of emphasis was make these guys take robust contested 2s,” mentioned Zach Marcus, Duke’s director of scouting and analytics. “In the event you lose by guys banging in robust 2s over a contest, you tip your hat.”
Houston tried solely eight 3s whole, with Duke selecting to single cowl Houston energy ahead J’Wan Roberts. The Cougars tried to get Roberts in isolation, setting step-up screens to get him advantageous switches. Whether or not he received a change or not, Duke principally single-covered Roberts and caught to shooters. Roberts scored six factors early, however he picked up his second foul with 8:25 left attempting to again down McCain, who dropped to the ground as quickly as Roberts put his left shoulder into McCain’s chest.
Houston scored solely eight factors the remainder of the half, struggling to get high quality seems to be with each Roberts and ultimately Shead out of the lineup.
Roberts, who completed with 13 factors, and Cryer made sufficient photographs to remain shut within the second half, however the sport mainly resembled a good pickup sport the place you simply wish to get the ball to your finest gamers and pray they’ll make a shot. Duke’s stars made sufficient. Each Filipowski (16 factors on 14 photographs) and Roach (14 factors on 14 photographs) have been inefficient, however they made sufficient, with Roach hitting what ended up being the dagger, a pull-up over Roberts within the lane with simply over a minute left that stretched the result in six.
In the long run, it was Duke’s protection that gained the sport, getting six stops on Houston’s remaining seven possessions.
“Our protection doesn’t get talked about sufficient,” Proctor mentioned. “I believe we’ve got among the best defenses within the nation. I imply I hope it’s lastly confirmed now. We’ve been doing it the entire 12 months, however nobody’s actually mentioned something on it.”
Nicely, we are able to say it now, and the numbers again it up, too. Duke is thirteenth in adjusted defensive effectivity, and with an offense that ranks seventh, the Devils are in that candy spot of high 20 in each, which is the place most nationwide champions end.
It doesn’t really feel like Duke ought to be thought of one of many favorites now, however the expertise is there. The Blue Devils opened this season No. 2, and there are few groups that may match the variety of future professionals of their lineup.
A 3rd assembly this season with NC State awaits within the Elite Eight. The groups break up, with the Wolfpack profitable the final one within the ACC semis. Get previous that one, and Duke might doubtlessly face the 2 groups which have spent a lot of the 12 months ranked within the high three in Purdue and UConn. That third crew was Houston, which retains attending to the second weekend of the NCAA Match and leaving with ideas of “what might have been” due to accidents.
Duke may not have lived as much as the lofty expectations within the common season, however storybook seasons in faculty basketball are written in late March and April. Duke is attempting to rewrite the narrative, and get individuals speaking about that protection.
(Picture of Houston guard Emanuel Sharp (21) and Duke guard Tyrese Proctor (5): Tim Heitman / USA At this time)
