Eron Harris was ejected from West Virginia’s otherwise memorable victory against No. 11 Iowa State last night. He received a Flagrant 2 foul for a very heavy and seemingly non-basketball play. It seems Dustin Hogue received a Flagrant 1 for his Double Dragon jump kick to Kevin Noreen’s torso, but that wasn’t announced in the gym or included in the official box score. I’m told it was assessed, though.

I do wonder if this is the last we’ve heard of these plays. It might be that the fouls are punishment enough — that’s why there are varieties of fouls and degrees of particular varieties — and perhaps an ejection is a serious ordeal for Harris as it is. No, he isn’t automatically suspended for Saturday’s game at Texas, but getting run from a game is a big deal, even if he team was blowing out the other team.

That might be sufficient as far as the Big 12 is concerned.

And it might not be. I don’t know. I’m trying to find out. I think what’s interesting, beyond Iowa State’s Monte Morris tucking the ball in his right side and Harris never coming anywhere near the ball, is what Morris said after the game and how that might matter.

Morris said WVU told him it was “payback.”

Harris said he swung his right arm down at the ball, missed and caught Morris flush on the right side of his face. Morris had tucked the ball in his right side, opposite of where he was hit by Harris. The officials reviewed the play on a monitor for a few minutes and ejected Harris.

It doesn’t carry an automatic ejection, though it could be reviewed further by the Big 12.

“It was just a decision they made,” Harris said. “I can’t do anything about it, just like any other call they make. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

Morris, though, suggested the Mountaineers were intent on sending a message after they felt Hogue got away with kicking Noreen.

“Staten walked up to me and asked me if I was fine, but he said (Harris) did that because I guess Dustin had kicked one of his players and that was payback or whatever,” Morris said. “It hurt.”

Staten denied the allegation. He said he did ask who Harris fouled and checked to see if Morris was hurt. Staten said he told Morris that WVU wasn’t trying to do anything unsportsmanlike at that point in the game.

“We were winning by 30,” Staten said.

Translation: Scoreboard!

I promise, we’ll cover the game more later and, for real, ask aloud “What must WVU do now to get into the NCAA Tournament?”