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Gerald Henderson Q and A

By Jake Lloyd

Feb 4, 2008

Q and A with Duke guard Gerald Henderson from Monday's news conference:

Q: You personally, you've had a really good year this year and have shown a lot of improvement. Are you afraid that maybe nationally that's something that's been overlooked because they think of you as the guy who broke Tyler Hansbrough's nose last year, and will having this trip back there over with maybe change things?

A: "That's all stuff I really can't control — what people think about me. Every one of our games is on TV, so I don't think there's a real chance that people haven't seen us play, haven't seen me play, so that's something I'm not really worried about, you know.

"I'm just really worried about how our team is going to do on Wednesday and really the stuff that we can control."

Q: How hard were the next few days for you after the incident with all the attention going on with it?

"I'd say they were hard because I knew that I wasn't going to play in the next game. Obviously, it's a bad incident. I wish it never happened, but, you know, our season at that point — it was big that I wasn't playing in the next game. I wanted to be able to help my team win the ACC championship.

"I wouldn't say that if I would have played (in the) game, we would have won, but I felt like I could have helped us win.

Q: What was Wayne Ellington's role in smoothing things over with Hansbrough?

A: "He was cool, he was real cool about it. He called me right after the game to see if I was all right, and I talked to him. He eventually gave me Tyler's number, and I called him before the ACC Tournament to talk to him about everything that happened."

Q: How'd that go?

A: "It went well. He was understanding and knew that I didn't do anything intentionally, and he was real understanding."

Q: Did Ellington say, 'This is what you need to do to smooth things over?'

A: "No, I pretty much knew what I wanted to say to him and what I wanted to get across. Wayne knew that I'd handle the situation well enough and he was just supportive."

Q: Did you see Hansbrough during the summer in any pickup games?

A: "Yeah, I did. We went over there a few times to play some pickup games. I saw him probably about two times."

Q: Were you on the same team or different teams?

A: "I think maybe once or twice we were on the same team, but mostly on opposite teams."

Q: And it went fine?

A: "Yeah, no problems."