Mario Chalmers believes he can achieve what no Kansas University basketball player “officially” has accomplished before: a triple-double.

“I think I could. I was close tonight. I got a little taste of it. I’ll see if I can try to get one next game,” Chalmers said after scoring 12 points with nine rebounds, seven assists and seven steals in the Jayhawks’ 84-66 rout of DePaul on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.

A triple-double is an individual performance in which a player accumulates double-digit totals in any three of these categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots.

The NCAA didn’t recognize stats such as assists and blocks until the 1970s, leading the Journal-World’s Bill Mayer to believe Wilt Chamberlain likely had a triple-double in his KU career.

Indeed, Mayer’s research unearthed two Chamberlain triple-doubles – 39 points, 22 rebounds and 14 blocks against Marquette in 1956, and 40 points, 13 rebounds and 12 blocks against Colorado in 1957.

Those efforts are not officially recognized in KU’s hoops record books.

“Oh, well : (I’ll) try to break history,” Chalmers said.

The 6-foot-1 junior from Anchorage, Alaska, actually came close to a quadruple-double in just 32 minutes versus the Blue Demons.

“I think it’s pretty impressive,” Chalmers said, asked what he thought of his line. “I can’t get too happy with it right now. I’ve got to focus in and keep doing better.”

Known for his ability to intercept passes and bat the basketball from opposing guards, Chalmers set a career-best mark in steals Saturday.

He’d had six steals in a game five times.

Chalmers, who is KU’s single-season steals leader with 97 a year ago, has 29 in nine games this season and ranks fourth in school history with 215 thefts. Darnell Valentine is No. 1 with 336, followed by Aaron Miles (264) and Danny Manning (250).

“I’m not even thinking about the record. I’m just trying to get victories,” Chalmers said.

He said a team effort led to several of his steals Saturday.

“I’ve got to give most of the credit to Russell Robinson for putting on pressure. It allowed me to get easy steals,” Chalmers said, adding, “I was just in the right place at the right time.”

Chalmers’ seven assists were one shy of a career high. His favorite of the game was a high lob pass to Darnell Jackson, who rammed a one-handed slam.

After that play, Chalmers waved his hands to the crowd, imploring the fans to make some noise.

Jackson did the same earlier in the contest after hitting a jump shot.

“Our crowd is our biggest cheerleader. Once they get involved, the place gets rocking. We like when the fieldhouse is rocking,” Chalmers said. “The crowd does a good job of getting into it. We just tried to give them an extra boost.”

With a batch of highlight-film plays including Russell Robinson’s lob to Darrell Arthur for a slam and Sasha Kaun’s slam following a dash down the lane, the 16,300 fans had plenty to cheer Saturday.

Chalmers, however, may have had the best day of all.

“He impacted the game by doing a little bit of everything,” KU coach Bill Self said. “He had a total game. He and Russell were complete guards. It’s the best they’ve played together in quite some time. They played to their strengths, got everybody else involved, and the game became easier.”

It will be a rough week for the Jayhawks, who will be cramming for final exams as well as practicing. Next game is Saturday’s nonconference battle against Ohio, set for a 4 p.m. tipoff at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. Ohio, 5-2, will play Maryland on Wednesday night in College Park, Md.