Kansas University definitely could use one of those “feel-good” men’s basketball victories tonight.

You know, a win where lots of KU players force lots of turnovers and score lots of points against NCAA Div. II Central Missouri State.

Tipoff is 7 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse with a telecast on channels 13 and 38.

“I’m not going to say ‘swagger,’ but we’ve got to get some of the bounce back,” KU coach Roy Williams said of his 2-2 Jayhawks, who are coming off double-digit losses to North Carolina and Florida last week in New York.

“We were shook after the North Carolina game. I don’t think there’s any question about that,” Williams added, referring to the 67-56 loss. “We played like it in the first half of the Florida game (a 83-73 setback). We felt better about the way we played the last 15 minutes.

“I still think we’re shook a little bit, yet it’s so early in the season it’s not time to be shook. There’s nothing to gain from being that way. What you have to do is try to do the best you can every possession. If we do that, it’ll be fine.”

The Jayhawks, who will be without Kirk Hinrich (back strain), are not 100 percent physically, but are OK mentally after some soul searching at a team meeting after a turkey and ham dinner Sunday night at Williams’ house.

“We just talked. I was trying to make sure our players don’t overreact and our coaches don’t either,” Williams said. “It’s not like we’ve fallen off the top of a bridge or forgotten how to play basketball.

“I talked to a bunch of coaches yesterday reminding me we lost to some good teams. You look at some schedules around the country : if we played Alvamar Tech four times we’d be 4-0.

“(At the meeting) I asked them one question specifically: Tell me or tell yourself what was your thought process before the Carolina game or the first six to eight minutes of the Carolina game?

“That was it,” he added. “We’re not having any closed door meetings or players’ meetings without coaches. We’re not panicking.”

Senior Nick Collison said he believes the Jayhawks were simply shocked the Tar Heels, who run many of the same plays as the Jayhawks, started in a spread offense, throwing KU’s players out of whack mentally.

“We were caught up in how spaced out (on the floor) they were,” Collison said. “We prepared for more of the type of game we play :quot; pound it inside, play the passing lanes. Buy it wasn’t all that. We had plenty of time to get used to it. We just need to focus and play a lot better.

“We don’t have our identity right now. What will be successful for us? We have to find out.”

Of the team meeting, Collison said: “We watched a little tape. We obviously didn’t play well. We talked about the commitment we need every single day at practice. It was a couple people talking about how we have to focus. It was a reminder not to panic, but it is time to get going.”

Collison said he believes the team meeting has been a bit overblown in the press. He says the meeting was nothing like some others held earlier in his career.

“I think there were chemistry problems then, guys were arguing with each other,” he said of moments in his freshman year when KU was blown out at Oklahoma State and lost 10 games. “It’s nothing like that. It’s pretty obvious we all have to get better. There’s nobody pointing fingers. Everybody is pointing the finger at themselves realizing we haven’t done everything we can. There’s really no chemistry problems. We are not playing well together yet, but there’s no guys upset at each other. It was not a big deal.”

As far as some players being late or right on time for the bus or team meetings in New York, Collison said, “Little things like that are possible signs of people not being as committed as they should be. Those issues have been addressed. We’ll see how people act and how we play the rest of the season.”

As far as on-court issues tonight, Williams said both Jeff Hawkins and Michael Lee have been spending some time on the blue team, or first team, at practice.

“We’ve got to find somebody to come in as the sixth or seventh man,” Williams said. “We need some of those guys to come in and help us by not hurting us. Jeff Carey was a prime example of what we need. He very seldom got in the game and hurt us. He had very few games where he scored in double figures :quot; one in his career :quot; but when he came in, the effectiveness of our defense didn’t go down and he was very unselfish passing and setting screens and our effectiveness on offense didn’t go down, either.”

:quot; Assistant sports editor Gary Bedore can be reached at 832-7186.