Kansas coach Bill Self promised that junior forward Marcus Morris would be punished after being ejected at Cal on Dec. 22 for deliberately elbowing Harper Kamp in the head.
The sentence: Morris has lost his starting job.
At least for Wednesday night, when the third-ranked Jayhawks (11-0) play Texas-Arlington (5-5), whose losses include to Oregon State.
“Marcus has to be smarter than that,” Self said. “That was a very, very immature play that he made. He’s cost himself a starting position. He’ll play. But he certainly has to be more mature than that because he’s too valuable.”
Morris offered this in the way of an apology for the incident.
“I just felt like he was playing dirty,” Morris said of Kamp. “I retaliated the wrong way. I should have went to the refs and told them something was going on. But I retaliated the wrong way and got myself kicked out of the game. You can’t do those things in any sport. I apologized to him and to my team.”
Self said he’s not sure when Morris — who averages 15.5 points and 6.1 rebounds — will return to the starting lineup.
Our best guess is he’ll be back in the starting five in time for Texas or Missouri or Kansas State. Someone likely to provide a greater challenge than Texas-Arlington.
