Mar 6, 2007 3:30 pm US/Pacific
Hansbrough: 'No Bad Blood' With Duke's Henderson
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) ―
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Tyler Hansbrough (File)
AP
Tyler Hansbrough insisted Tuesday there's no bad blood between him and Duke's Gerald Henderson, who broke the North Carolina star forward's nose in the closing seconds of the latest clash between the Tobacco Road rivals.
Hansbrough, speaking to reporters for the first time since suffering the scary-looking injury in North Carolina's 86-72 win against Duke on Sunday, said he hasn't heard from Henderson, who flagrantly fouled him with 14.5 seconds left.
"I was upset when it happened," Hansbrough said. "I don't think he did it intentionally. I don't really like talking about it because I really don't know how to handle the situation, but I'm fine right now. I feel fine. I was kind of shocked my nose was broken. ... I just thought it was a really bad nosebleed."
Hansbrough had an inch-long bruise below his right eye Tuesday, but otherwise showed no visible signs of the fracture he suffered shortly after rebounding his own missed free throw late in the game and going back up for a putback.
Henderson leaped to block the shot and after the ball left Hansbrough's hand, Henderson's right elbow appeared to strike the Tar Heels' center in the nose, sending him crumpling to the ground.
Asked if it was the hardest hit of his life, Hansbrough deadpanned: "Are we talking about on the court or off?"
Blood poured down Hansbrough's face and onto his lip, his chin and the court, and he had to be restrained from Duke players as he went to the locker room. Henderson was ejected and received an automatic one-game suspension for Duke's ACC tournament opener against North Carolina State.
"In the game, I was upset. ... I read where he said it wasn't intentional, not any intentional things, or anything like that," Hansbrough said. "But it was a hard hit, and it did hurt. ... My feelings as a player who got hit, I understand that if I hit somebody like that, I don't ever intend to hurt anybody, and I don't think he intended it to be like that."
Henderson and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski both have said there was no intent to injure, and ACC officials consider the matter closed.
Earlier in the game, Hansbrough was hit by an elbow that loosened one of his upper teeth, but he will play despite the injuries. He might wear a custom-made protective mask when the top-seeded Tar Heels begin Atlantic Coast Conference tournament play Friday.
"I'm not too crazy about the mask," Hansbrough said. "It's one of those things where they strongly recommend me wearing it. But at the same time, I have no problem taking it off."
Receiving hard fouls has become a painful fact of life for Hansbrough, a consistent scoring threat who leads the team and ranks among the ACC's leaders with averages of 18.8 points and 8.0 rebounds. He also leads the conference with 259 free-throws attempted.
"It's not that he's always looking for contact. It's that he's not a jump-over-the-moon guy," coach Roy Williams said. "He has a tremendous focus, the best focus I've ever seen about making the basket. A lot of guys will try to draw contact and throw it up. Tyler goes in reverse - he tries to make the basket, and oh yeah, I got fouled, too."
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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