Nolan Smith, Kyle Singler and crew aren't the only ones taking on Tar Heels tonight—Gerald Henderson will face Tyler Hansbrough tonight in Indiana.
The interesting timing of the game wasn't lost on Henderson as he talked to Dave Glenn on his afternoon radio show yesterday. And despite the fact that Henderson did not know the location of the game today (seriously, G?), he had plenty of thoughts on the Duke-North Carolina rivalry—even if his boss, Michael Jordan, hasn't had much to say about it this week.
"He's not talked much about the game," Henderson said. "I'm not sure if he's too confident in his team tomorrow, the way they're team has been going."
Henderson revealed that the main topic still brought up to him by strangers has to do with a Duke-North Carolina incident: his infamous elbow to Hansbrough's nose. It was a shot that offered itself to easy speculation: Tar Heel fans will most likely never believe it to be accidental. Duke fans, likewise, will always be it was unintentional.
"'Did you do it on purpose?' Everyone wants to know that [laughs]," Henderson said. "Hopefully nothing [like that] goes down tomorrow.... It kind of just epitomizes the rivalry. That particular game got to that.... Stuff like that is going to happen."
Henderson also commented in the interview on the major differences in intensity between the professional and collegiate games. When at school, Henderson and Hansbrough would spend all year thinking about playing against each other. Now, they're playing in just another midweek game.
"I'm going to Indiana to play a Wednesday night game against the Pacers and [Duke is] going to play the most intense game in college basketball. All the effort and practice time and scouting they put into that one game, it's almost like a championship game. Tomorrow, we're playing a game that we haven't even scouted yet."
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