Perry Ellis scored 23 points, Devonte' Graham added a career-high 20 and eighth-ranked Kansas bounced back from a frustrating loss to hold off foul-plagued TCU, 81-72 on Saturday.
Frank Mason III added 14 points and five assists for the Jayhawks (22-5, 11-4), who held onto their one-game lead over Iowa State with four left in the Big 12 race. Kansas also extended its win streak in the friendly confines of Allen Fieldhouse to 22 games.
Trey Zeigler had 20 points to lead the Horned Frogs (16-11, 3-11), who still have never won in Lawrence. Kyan Anderson added 14 points and Amric Fields finished with 11.
Nobody was quite as dynamic as Ellis and Graham, though.
Ellis, who blew a potential winning layup at the buzzer in Monday night's defeat in West Virginia, quieted a host of critics who lit him up on social media this week. He finished 9 of 10 from the floor, added seven rebounds and even had a couple of assists.
Graham's scoring outburst came one day before his 20th birthday.
Kansas led just 35-29 at halftime, and Anderson converted a four-point play immediately out of the break that allowed the Horned Frogs to close within a possession.
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But a few minutes later, Ellis knocked down a basket in the paint to restore a 43-35 lead, and then scored two more baskets to cap a 10-2 spurt and give the Jayhawks a 47-37 advantage.
By that point, TCU's foul problems had really started to mount.
Karviar Shepherd went to the bench with four fouls with 17:15 to play, and Chris Washburn followed him to coach Trent Johnson's side with his fourth foul with 9:30 remaining.
Kansas spent the final 11 minutes in the double bonus.
The Horned Frogs were still within 59-50 after the under-8 timeout, but Ellis followed a basket by Mason with the game's two biggest highlights: He speared a lob from Mason and slammed it while getting fouled, then picked a pass near midcourt and added another dunk.
The duo kept of Ellis and Graham eventually put the game out of reach, the freshman guard feeding one of the Jayhawks' only upper classman for an easy lay-in and a 70-62 lead with 3:11 to go. Then, Graham added a scooping layup a minute later to extend the lead.
Kansas put the game away from the foul line in the final minute.
TIP-INS:
TCU: The loss snapped the Horned Frogs' two-game win streak. ... TCU fell to 9-2 when scoring more than 70 points. ... Shepherd finished with six points and six rebounds. ... Anderson also had seven assists with only one turnover.
Kansas: The Jayhawks got 37 points from their bench. ... Coach Bill Self improved to 13-4 against TCU, including 7-1 with the Jayhawks. ... Graham's previous career high of 14 points came in the season opener against UC-Santa Barbara. ... Kansas shot 58 percent from the floor.
UP NEXT:
TCU travels to Texas Tech on Wednesday night.
Kansas heads down Interstate 70 to Kansas State on Monday night.
