“We’re a little bit short-handed right now,” said MU basketball coach Quin Snyder, who was speaking for his Tigers (13-4 overall, 4-2 Big 12 Conference), but also could have been referring to the rival Jayhawks (15-5, 5-1), who enter tonight’s 8:05 p.m. battle at Allen Fieldhouse with a shortage of ammunition, too.

Everybody knows about the Jayhawks’ lack of depth, caused by the early departure to the NBA of Drew Gooden, shoulder injury to Wayne Simien and some setbacks in recruiting. The Tigers, meanwhile, are down to eight scholarship players for tonight’s game after losing Kareem Rush early to the NBA, Wesley Stokes to San Diego State, Najeeb Echols to Illinois State and Jeffrey Ferguson to suspension for a violation of team rules.

“I feel badly because Quin is not sleeping any more than I am,” KU coach Roy Williams said. “Both of us are very thin. Maybe we’ll ask to see if we can get extra timeouts, see if we can let our guys rest a little bit.”

Snyder used just seven players in MU’s 73-70 victory Saturday against Colorado at Hearnes Center. In that game, reserve guard Josh Kroenke was limited to just 13 minutes because of nagging knee problems.

Like KU, Missouri has one of the best starting lineups in the league, including one of the most productive duos in Detroit juniors Arthur Johnson and Ricky Paulding.

Johnson, a 6-foot-9, 265-pound power forward, averages 16.5 points and 9.6 rebounds a game. Paulding, a 6-5, 212-pound shooting guard, averages 16.5 points and 5.3 boards.

“He is very good. He is up there with anybody in the Big 12,” KU senior Nick Collison said of Johnson, who scored 10 points on 5-of-14 shooting and grabbed eight boards against Colorado.

“He is very strong, very skilled. In the past it seemed he’d be open but we knew they wouldn’t throw it to him, they’d shoot a three-pointer. This year they seem to be getting him more involved.”

Johnson vows to be ready for extended duty tonight.

“Playing there is always tough,” he said. “You could go down there with 15 guys and it’s (still) tough. We just have to be together.”

A somewhat inconsistent Paulding averaged 18.2 points off 48.2 percent shooting in helping MU storm to a 10-1 record. In the Tigers’ last six games, however, he’s cashed 29 of 80 shots (36.3 percent) while hitting eight of 31 three-pointers.

Paulding scored 21 points Saturday off 9-of-17 shooting — including 3-of-5 on threes — in the Tigers’ narrow home victory.

“I don’t feel out of rhythm,” Paulding told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I feel I’m getting a lot of looks, the same shots I usually hit. I’m just not hitting them.”

The Tigers’ best defender, Paulding held Syracuse’s Carmelo Anderson to 16 points — eight under his average — in MU’s 76-69 loss to the Orangemen on Jan. 13. He held Jake Sullivan to 10 points in the Tigers’ 64-59 victory over Iowa State on Jan. 21 in Ames, Iowa.

“He’s playing really well, attacking the rim real well,” Snyder said.

Troubled point guard Ricky Clemons, who was arrested on second-degree domestic assault charges on Jan. 16 — he has said he’s not guilty — averages 16.9 points while hitting 54 of 134 three-pointers. He’s dished 78 assists against 55 turnovers.

Highly touted point guard/shooting guard Jimmy McKinney has averaged 9.0 points a game off 39.1 percent shooting. Junior power forward Travon Bryant also starts and averages 8.0 points and 6.2 boards.

“We’ve got to do a good job on Ricky Clemons, hopefully have him not shoot a good percentage,” Williams said. “Arthur Johnson is having a great, great year. We’ve got to do a good job on Ricky Paulding. Some people have sort of been ignoring Travon, but he’s been doing some nice things.”

MU’s bench brigade is basically down to 6-9, 270-pound Kevin Young and the hobbled Kroenke, though former walk-on Ryan Kiernan has been inserted into games from time to time.

“When Kansas and Missouri play it’s always special,” Williams said. “We need to have our guys into it from the first moment.”