Duke came into the NCAA Tournament as a favorite for many to win the National Championship. Their dominant run to the Final Four only solidified people’s belief in them. Taking on Houston in the Alamodome, there was a time the Blue Devils were up by 14 in the second half. Somehow, Duke managed to lose the thriller despite having a seven-point lead heading into the final minute.
Advertisement
Fans aren’t happy with how certain team members have reacted to the loss. The Blue Devils ultimately lost 70-67 to the Cougars, and Tyrese Proctor’s poor performance was a large part of the reason.
The guard, who was instrumental in Duke making the Final Four in the first place, scored a shocking 7 points on the night, and his decision to shut off his Instagram comments after the loss has left a lot of fans with somewhat unsavory things to say about him.
The most common thought among them seems to be that Proctor is “soft” for closing his comments off from the hate he knew he’d receive for the poor shooting night.
A fan on X was the first to notice this development, taking to his page to mock Proctor for his decision, barely an hour after the final buzzer sounded.
“Tyrese Proctor wasted no time turning off his comments on IG,” he wrote.
Tyrese Proctor wasted no time turning off his comments on IG 😭 pic.twitter.com/dl8MeR6kpb
— 𝙎𝙠𝙮𝙚𝙙 🇦🇺 (@SkyedOKC) April 6, 2025
Fans immediately took to mocking him for it, with one saying, “Lmfaoooo soft!!!” Another took to the replies of the original X post, claiming Proctor had a horrible night from the floor, adding, “He was buns.”
In 38 minutes, Proctor shot a horrific 2-8 from the floor, including an eye-catchingly bad 0-for-4 from beyond the arc. He got 3 of his 7 points at the line, going 3-5 from the charity stripe. Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel were the only Duke players to finish in double digits, scoring 27 and 16, respectively.
Of course, anyone who’s watched Duke this season knows that this was an off night for the young guard. Unfortunately for him, it came at the worst possible time. But he hasn’t been bad at all this season. The junior guard has solid averages throughout the season, boasting 12.5 points on 41.2% from beyond the arc in almost 30 minutes of playing time.
With Duke no longer in the competition, all attention will turn to Cooper Flagg, who has yet to make a decision about his future. Without a national championship to his name, there’s some belief he may come back to Duke next year, with the addition of the Boozer twins making the Blue Devils an even more stacked program.
Of course, Flagg’s post-game press conference revealed nothing about what the Maine Event has planned. He simply admitted that Duke’s season “didn’t end the way we wanted it to,” while visibly holding back tears.
