Duke basketball must get best version of X-Factor to win National Championship

The Duke basketball team is one of the few favorites to win the National Championship this season primarily due to the greatness of Cooper Flagg, but Jon Scheyer knows he needs his veteran to play great in order for the most success.

Entering Saturday’s matchup against North Carolina, Tyrese Proctor had not been playing his best brand of basketball after scoring in single digits in four of his previous five games.

He was 3-for-18 in games against Wake Forest and NC State while posting 1-for-10 against Notre Dame and Miami with a 20-point outing against Boston College sandwiched between the struggling efforts.

Then he broke out against the Tar Heels.

Proctor was decisive and aggressive and looked for his shot from the opening minutes, finishing with 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting, making 2-of-5 attempts from 3-point range.

He scored 10 points in the first half, making all five of his free throw attempts, and was a key part in the Blue Devils continuing its rout in the second half.

“We watched film a couple days ago and we actually watched some stuff throughout his career,” Scheyer said after the 17-point Duke win of his conversations with Proctor leading up to the game.

“He means so much to our program, with what he has done for three years. He’s been unselfish, but for us to be really good, we need him to score and shoot.”

Proctor is averaging 10.7 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game this season while shooting 40.6-percent from the floor and 38.8-percent from 3-point range, a career-high.

“We have to help get him more looks,” Scheyer added.

No. 2 Duke (19-2, 11-0 ACC) will begin a two-game road trip on Wednesday night (7:00 p.m. ET, ESPN2) on the road against Syracuse (10-12, 4-7 ACC) before battling for first place in the ACC regular season standings on Saturday (6:00 p.m. ET, ESPN) against Clemson (18-4, 10-1 ACC).