Given Pittsburg State’s history against Kansas University’s men’s basketball team, it didn’t seem likely the NCAA Division II Gorillas would stand much of a chance against the No. 4-ranked team in Division I.

Entering Thursday night’s exhibition game at Allen Fieldhouse, PSU never had beaten KU. Five games, five losses.

Overwhelmed and undermanned, it took all of four seconds against KU on Thursday night to see the Gorillas were on their way to making it a half dozen consecutive losses. Mario Chalmers’ 3-pointer on the Jayhawks’ first possession gave KU a lead it never relinquished in a 94-59 thumping.

Players weren’t given the chance to speak with reporters afterward, but PSU head coach Gene Iba heaped enough praise on the Jayhawks for all of them. He said he was particularly impressed with KU’s staring trio of guards: Chalmers, Russell Robinson and Sherron Collins.

“You’re looking at three guards that together probably led the Big 12 last year in steals. We had trouble with their pressure,” Iba said. “That’s like looking at a backfield. I don’t know who’s best, the quarterback, the halfback or the fullback. They’re very, very good.”

The three flustered the Gorillas’ guards all night, stretching PSU’s offense near midcourt and helping to force 25 turnovers. That total tied for the seventh most in Pittsburg State’s history. In fact, four of the Gorillas’ top seven highest turnover games have come against KU.

One bright spot in an otherwise dismal team performance was preseason All-America selection Cory Abercombie’s 14 points and six rebounds. It was one of few small victories for PSU, which gave up 39 points off turnovers.

When Iba was informed his team actually outrebounded KU, he said dryly, “I haven’t looked at that yet, but there’s a statistical error there.”

Iba did say he was happy his team got to face better personnel than it will see during the regular season. He wasn’t pleased with execution, however.

“We were struggling in practice,” Iba said of his team’s offense. “I didn’t think it was going to work really well here since it wasn’t working very well two days ago.

“I don’t know how bad our execution was because we were being overplayed by awful talented people. We’ll have to find out. It’s not good yet, I know that.”