Hansbrough suffered what coach Roy Williams said today was a small nondisplaced fracture when Duke's Gerald Henderson flagrantly fouled him with 14.5 seconds left in the Tar Heels' 86-72 win.

Williams said Hansbrough is being fitted with a custom-made protective mask and should be ready for North Carolina's first tournament game Friday. Hansbrough leads the team and ranks among the ACC's leaders with averages of 18.8 points and 8.0 rebounds.

The fracture was discovered during an X-ray this morning, Williams said during the ACC's weekly coaches' teleconference. Shortly after the game Williams said Hansbrough's nose was not broken.

''I gave some bad information because I had a bad source ... the source was Tyler,'' Williams said today. ''It's not completely broken. ... His nose did not have to be set, straightened out or anything like that.''

Hansbrough had his nose broken after pulling down the rebound of his own missed free throw and going back up for a layup. 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.

Blood poured down Hansbrough's face and onto his lip, his chin and the court, and he had to be restrained from the Blue Devils 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.

''Gerald's intent is to try to stop him from scoring,'' Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. ''His hand is open, and he's ready to go up. However, the ball never goes up there. ... If it was intentional, he would have come, probably his hand would have been closed and he would have met him head on.

''If I thought he did that intentionally, I would suspend him for longer than a game,'' he added.

Williams also said that Hansbrough injured a tooth earlier in the game and will probably need a root canal after the season ends.