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LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Over the first eight minutes Saturday, Kansas could rely on only one player to provide any scoring.

That was Perry Ellis, a senior forward who scored the No. 3 Jayhawks' first seven points and finished with a game-high 26 to key a 76-67 victory over Texas in Allen Fieldhouse.

"He deserves to be talked about as an All-American or a national player of the year candidate," Texas coach Shaka Smart said. "He is hard to deal with."

Although Ellis held Kansas (16-3, 5-2 in the Big 12) together at the outset, Texas (12-7, 4-3) built a 12-point bulge. The Jayhawks managed to tie the game before halftime, but could not gain a lead until 12:31 remained on a drive by Ellis.

That bucket was part of a 20-8 run that gave Kansas a 59-48 cushion and it eventually led by as many as 13.

"We started off awful,"’ Kansas coach Bill Self said. "It seemed like they were scoring a ton of points, but the fact of the matter is they had only 20 points with eight minutes left in the (first) half, so it was more our offense than our defense.

"We were so geeked up to play and so excited, we were too anxious."

Part of that anxiety stemmed from a 19-point drubbing the Jayhawks absorbed earlier in the week at Oklahoma State.

The Jayhawks, who were ranked No. 1 earlier this month, had not looked the same since a triple-overtime victory over Oklahoma. A sellout crowd at home eventually got Kansas righted against Texas, which had a three-game winning streak snapped.

"I thought this was our most important game to date, because we had to get away from the negative momentum," Self said. "We were in a rut."

Self mostly used his starters.

Ellis and three other scorers in double figures -- junior guard Wayne Selden (19 points), sophomore guard Devonte' Graham (14) and junior guard Frank Mason (13) -- each logged at least 35 minutes.

Junior forward Landen Lucas also started and grabbed 10 rebounds.

"I shortened our bench," Self said. "It's a game we had to have and I felt we were much better playing less guys. We talked about this and this is how we want to do it. Our starters really came through."

Senior forward Connor Lammert led Texas with 15 points, all on 3-pointers as he went 5-of-7 from that range.

Junior guard Isaiah Taylor added 13 points and senior guard Javan Felix had 12, with a team-high six assists. Senior center Prince Ibeh blocked seven shots to go with seven points and seven boards.

Lammert's 3-point basket enabled Texas to pull to within seven points with 1:27 left. Taylor drove for a bucket with 53.5 seconds left to make it 72-67, but the Longhorns did not score again.

"We played a good game for most of the game but it wasn't completed," Lammert said. "We didn't stay aggressive for 40 minutes on both ends of the floor, but we're going to see them again.

"It's unfortunate to not get a win here because if you're in the Big 12. It's one of your goals to win here."

Instead, Kansas claimed its 34th straight home victory and built some momentum going into another difficult road test Monday at Iowa State.

Texas raced to a 17-5 lead, hitting seven of its first 10 shots. Lammert canned three 3-pointers for nine first-half points and Davis also chipped in nine points.

Kansas clawed back to forge a 25-25 tie on a follow shot by Selden with 5:16 remaining in the half. But the Longhorns used a 10-5 closing run to grab a 35-30 halftime lead.

Ellis scored nine points to lead the Jayhawks in the first half, including their first seven points to prevent Texas from a complete breakout to begin the game. Selden added eight first-half points.

NOTES: Kansas junior G Brannen Greene returned after missing the Jan. 19 loss at Oklahoma State with a strained knee. Greene missed five games earlier in the season because of a disciplinary suspension. ...

The victory was the 200th in Allen Fieldhouse for Bill Self at Kansas. Self, in his 13th season as the Jayhawks' coach, stands 200-9 in home games. Kansas padded its homecourt win streak in Big 12 play to 26 games. ... Texas coach Shaka Smart came into the game 1-0 in games against Kansas. His VCU team toppled Kansas 71-61 in the Southwest Regional championship of the 2011 NCAA Tournament to advance to the Final Four. ... The Longhorns came into the game 3-1 against ranked opponents, including a three-game streak that included wins against North Carolina, Iowa State and West Virginia.