But not any place.

Simien’s not about to brawl on the basketball court with referees and fans looking on.

“Nobody wants to get in a fight in a game. If he wants to meet me in a dark alley, I’m all for that,” said Simien, Kansas University’s 6-foot-9, 255-pound sophomore forward.

Simien was shoved in the back by Vroman, Iowa State’s 6-10, 230-pound forward, after Vroman fouled out with 11:01 left in the No. 9-ranked Jayhawks’ 70-51 victory over the Cyclones Sunday at Allen Fieldhouse.

Vroman’s shove started what KU coach Roy Williams called a “semi-fight.”

KU’s Aaron Miles’ popped ISU’s Jared Homan in the back of the head with an open right hand as Homan barked at Simien and Simien had words with Vroman.

Vroman and Miles were called for technical fouls about a minute after Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy was ejected for arguing an official’s call he didn’t know had been changed — from a charge on Vroman to a traveling violation.

No real punches were thrown, and all the combatants waxed apologetic after KU improved to 19-5 overall, 9-1 in the Big 12 Conference. Iowa State fell to 12-9, 2-8.

“Vroman apologized and said anger got the best of him,” said Simien, who had seven points and seven boards in 18 minutes, playing for the first time in 12 games while wearing a brace to protect his injured right shoulder.

“I won’t hold too big a grudge. It’s something that will not be forgotten, definitely, in our time here, but it’s nothing I’ll focus on.”

Miles — his swat to the back of Homan’s head overshadowed his near triple-double of 14 points, nine assists and a school-record nine steals — apologized to Homan during postgame pleasantries.

“He said it was all right, he understood,” Miles said. “I apologized to my teammates, coach (Roy) Williams, the coaching staff, Iowa State and our fans. I think I was out of the pocket getting involved like that, but this is a family.

“If something was happening to my little brother, I’ll go protect him. I feel Wayne is my brother. My brother had a bad shoulder, and it looked to me like they were trying to attack it, so I went to help him.”

Forward Jeff Graves, who didn’t start for the first time in 12 games as penalty for arriving six minutes late for Saturday morning’s practice, said he could understand Miles’ frustration.

Ditto Nick Collison, who missed 10 of 13 free throws, but still tied Kirk Hinrich for game-high scoring honors with 19 points.

“I saw what was going on. They were trying to pull Wayne’s shoulder, the right one. Aaron went to protect his teammate,” Graves said.

“When a guy pushes another guy like that, and it’s that obvious, there will be some tension,” Collison said. “It was pretty much one play. I didn’t think anything led up to that, and there were no problems after that, either.”

Miles’ head slap — “I didn’t throw a punch,” he stressed — didn’t cost him an ejection, but likely will cost him some laps at practice.

“I was disappointed in Aaron’s involvement,” Williams said. “I didn’t see it. I’ll need to look at the tape. If we need to do some extra running for Aaron, it’s what we should do. Our guys don’t need to do those kind of things. Just shut up, get hold of your own player and get out of there.”

As KU’s coach noted, “It’s an ugly situation, but for the most part the players did a pretty good job. I’m pleased everybody stayed on our bench. For the most part the kids on the court did a nice job.”

Williams was hurt during the fracas, jamming a finger as he tried to hurry onto the court to help make peace.

It was that kind of day for Williams and the Jayhawks, who hit just 40 percent of their first-half shots and led 28-22 at halftime.

KU hit 17 of 33 free throws and missed seven of 10 three-point tries on the day. ISU missed nine of 13 threes while shooting 38 percent overall.

“Maybe 12 noon Sunday morning is too early. They may not like playing at that time,” Williams said. “I told ’em, whatever they did last night, change it before we play again.”

Actually, the Jayhawks attended a banquet with the 175 returning KU letterwinners Saturday night. The banquet went well, and so did halftime introductions of all the former KU players and managers.

The pregame ceremony retiring Raef LaFrentz’s jersey, however, had some snafus.

“I never felt better (than) when Raef told me he was going to Iowa,” Williams said in his speech to the crowd, quickly correcting himself and saying, “Kansas.”

“I think I do remember coaching the boy. I have not gone senile that early.

“It was a weird day, a dysfunctional day,” he added, noting the color guard was late coming out for the national anthem and the scoreboard wasn’t set to give Iowa State as much time as planned to shoot around prior to tipoff.

Also, KU’s alma mater was sung during pregame warmups.

“We’re usually not out there when they are cheering, ‘Rock Chalk,”’ Collison said. “It was different today.”

As far as the on-the-court action, Miles stole the show, plucking seven first-half steals. His nine total steals surpassed the previous KU high of eight set twice by Alonzo Jamison and once by Nick Bradford.

Miles credited his strategy of “attack the ball. Whenever I see the ball, attack it.”

As far as attacking opponents …

“The scuffle wasn’t too bad. It shows how close we are and how we’ve got each other’s back,” Simien said.

KU will play host to Colorado Wednesday. Tipoff is 6:30 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse.