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Cal-Kansas Fight: What Happened Between Thomas Robinson And Jorge Gutierrez?

With the Kansas Jayhawks threatening to blow open a hard-fought affair against the California Golden Bears, two plays occurred. First, Kansas star Maurice Morris was ejected after throwing an elbow right to the back of the head of Cal power forward Harper Kamp. It was pretty clear from all the replays that Morris had landed contact, and he was tossed without much controversy.

Almost exactly a minute later, Cal guard Jorge Gutierrez scrambled for a loose ball that Kansas's Thomas Robinson had claimed for himself, and the two battled on the floor. Eventually, something occurred that didn't sit well with Gutierrez, and he began flailing in anger. Harper Kamp dragged him out of the pile to avoid Gutierrez getting ejected, but he was demonstrably angry afterwards, as head coach Mike Montgomery had to restrain him from going after Robinson.

You can see both of the plays after the jump.

Highlights: (3) Kansas - Cal (via foxsports)

Later in the game it was clear Gutierrez had been stitched up above one of his eyes. Therefore, based on the video above, I have to assume one of Robinson's arms made contact near Gutierrez's eye, and Jorge took umbrage to that. I cannot determine whether Robinson did anything intentional from this camera angle (or any of the other angles), so there is no damning evidence (a la Brandon Spikes) that Robinson was trying to intentionally harm Gutierrez.. It's also possible Gutierrez hit Robinson with his elbows too and Robinson simply reacted--notice the glare in this photo from Jerry Wang of the Kansas City Sun by Robinson, directed straight at Gutierrez.

After the game though, both players shook hands without incident. Perhaps in the end, it was just much ado about nothing--two physical players letting their emotions get the best of him.