Kansas City, Mo. ? No Wayne Simien was no problem for Kansas University against undernourished UMKC.

“They have guys off the bench that can step in and play a role,” UMKC guard Michael Watson said after KU’s 100-46 walkover on Saturday at Kemper Arena.

Yes, but not many teams are as woefully weak as the 1-11 Kangaroos, and the Jayhawks haven’t even played a Big 12 Conference game yet.

“They’ll miss him throughout the year, if he’s still out,” Watson added about Simien, a KU starter who suffered a game-ending shoulder injury midway through the first half.

Watson, a 6-foot-1 junior guard from Central High in Kansas City, is pretty much the whole show for the ‘Roos. He ranks third in the nation in scoring (25.6) and hiked his average slightly with 27 points on Saturday even though he missed 10 of 12 shots in the first half.

“It wasn’t their defense,” Watson said of his first-half inaccuracy. “It was me just missing shots … and some calls that didn’t go our way, but that will happen in the course of a game.”

Watson scored 29 points last year in Allen Fieldhouse when the ‘Roos outscored the Jayhawks by two points in the second half (39-37) while bowing 79-68. But Watson had some help last season.

“Last year we had experience,” he said. “We had four seniors and it was their last go-round. We were 5-0 or 6-0 when we played KU and we had a chip on our shoulder. This year we have a lot of young guys still getting the feel of D-1 ball.”

The only chips UMKC had on Saturday were flakes off the 42 bricks they heaved at the Kemper backboards. The ‘Roos made only 16 of 58 shots, a refrigerated 27.8 percent. And they were outrebounded by a staggering 59-22.

“Kansas is a great ball club,” said James Williams, a junior forward from Brooklyn, N.Y. “I dream of playing at KU.”

Unfortunately for Williams, his shooting was a nightmare. The 6-foot-8 junior-college transfer clanked 10 of his 12 shots. Still, he was UMKC’s second-leading scorer with eight points.

“It was pretty frustrating,” Williams said. “A lot of times I was off-balance, but I just missed shots I should have hit.”

Somebody asked second-year UMKC coach Rich Kvosec if he could see any positives in the lopsided defeat.

“What can we get out of it?” he said rhetorically. “Well, the first thing is that nobody in our league will be as good as Nick Collison or Kirk Hinrich. That’s a comforting thought.”

And the second thing?

“We have got to keep the ball from being scored inside,” Kvosec said. “We haven’t been consistent enough with it to be successful. That was the story.”

Kansas outscored UMKC, 42-12, in the paint.

Kvosec did find one bright spot. his club committed just nine turnovers. In annihilating UNC Asheville, 102-50, on Thursday night in Lawrence, KU had forced 26 turnovers.

“They’re the type team that smells fear,” Kvosec said of the Jayhawks, “and nine turnovers is where we needed it to be. We just needed to make a few more shots to keep the pressure on.”

Asked if he was embarrassed to lose so decisively in front of the home fans, Kvosec said he was.

“Yeah, sure, anytime you lose you’re embarrassed,” he said. “But at times tonight we had the right type of effort and intensity. But we had far too many breakdowns to beat a team the level of a Kansas.”