Dallas ? Wayne Simien would rather not play Missouri tonight at the Big 12 Conference tournament.

“I really enjoy playing different teams. We’d really like to play a team from the South because we’ve only played them once,” said Simien, a junior forward for Kansas University. “You play a team three times, it’s tough. But it’s a rivalry game and we’ll be up for it, nevertheless.”

The No. 18-ranked Jayhawks will play Missouri for the second time in as many games at 8:30 p.m. tonight at American Airlines Arena.

KU downed the Tigers, 84-82, in a thrilling game Sunday at Hearnes Center in Columbia, Mo. The Tigers (16-12) have played one game since — Thursday’s first-round tourney victory over Texas A&M.

“You watch Missouri play,” KU coach Bill Self said, “those guys can beat anybody any night. Fortunately for us we played great, or they’d have beaten us in Columbia.”

The Jayhawks survived a career-high 37-point outburst from MU center Arthur Johnson. Simien countered with 22 points and seven rebounds.

“It’ll be great to play against him again,” Simien said. “He was tough to stop last time. He was getting rebounds, stealing the ball, scoring from all over the court. I’ll look forward to it. It’s two of the top forwards in the league going at it.”

Missouri is a motivated team. The Tigers are on the NCAA Tournament bubble, and a victory over KU would impress selection-committee members.

“I think Missouri is an NCAA Tournament team,” Self said. “Depending on how the committee looks at it and those kind of things, they would certainly enhance their chances (by winning in Dallas). I think they are deserving of an at-large bid based on their schedule they played. If you base it on what the committee says, Missouri has done what they are supposed to do. They’ve played the seventh-toughest schedule in America.”

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A year ago, KU and Missouri met in Dallas in a similar situation. KU stopped the Tigers, 78-74, in the regular-season finale in Columbia, then the two teams met again in a Big 12 semifinal.

KU, which had defeated Iowa State in the quarterfinals, lost to Missouri, 68-63, in the semis.

“Kansas and Missouri hooked up in the tournament right after the great win in Columbia by the Jayhawks,” Self said. “It will kind of be history repeating itself. Now we have to make sure we win the basketball game, and play at the level we’ve played at the last three games.”

• Here’s a quick summary of the last two meetings between the teams.

KU 84, MU 82, March 7, Columbia, Mo.: David Padgett’s 8-footer from the baseline proved to be the game winning hoop. Simien had 22 points, while Keith Langford had 19, Aaron Miles 15 and J.R. Giddens 14. Johnson hit 13 of 17 shots and 11 of 17 free throws for MU. Rickey Paulding had 14 points off 4-of-9 shooting. MU hit 19 of 32 free throws to KU’s 10 of 14.

KU 65, MU 57, Feb. 2, Lawrence: Simien had 16 of his 18 points the second-half as KU expanded on a 29-27 halftime lead. Miles had 11 points and eight assists and Giddens 11 points. Johnson hit six of 15 shots, good for 15 points for MU. Paulding hit five of 10 shots for 14 tallies. KU held MU to 35.9 percent shooting.