AUSTIN, Texas (Ticker) -- Texas did not have to worry about beating the clock in this one.

The 16th-ranked Longhorns scored the first eight points and coasted to a 79-57 victory over depleted Baylor in the Big 12 Conference opener for both teams.

Brad Buckman scored 16 points for Texas (9-2, 1-0 Big 12), coming off a controversial 79-77 overtime win at Providence in which freshman P.J. Tucker scored a disputed basket as time expired. Officials counted the basket after a lengthy review.

"I've been struggling, so it felt really good to come out and play this game the way I've been wanting to," said Buckman, who also grabbed 10 rebounds. "I upped my intensity and had fun helping my teammates. It all came together and I didn't have a worry."

Baylor kept the deficit in single numbers for most of the first half before Texas took a 42-28 lead at intermission. The Longhorns wore down the Bears (5-9, 0-1) in the second half to extend their home winning streak to 23 games.

Texas kept alive another streak, improving to 12-0 against Baylor under coach Rick Barnes, who is 6-0 in conference openers. The Longhorns have won 37 of the last 44 meetings with the Bears.

"He's (Buckman) worked hard all year, putting in extra time," Barnes said. "He came into this game focused. His work paid off and he did a nice job."

Tucker added 13 points for Texas, which opened the second half with a 12-2 spurt and built a 54-30 cushion on Edgar Moreno's layup with 12:23 remaining.

"This was a big win to get a conference win to start the season," Barnes said. "Just look at the Purdue game (a 76-65 loss) and you'll know this (Baylor) team is a good team and they're going to win more games than people think."

Harvey Thomas scored 19 points for the Bears, who have just five scholarship players on their roster. Starting guard Ellis Kidd Jr. was dismissed last month due to a violation of team rules and forward Terrence Thomas and starting center R.T. Guinn were declared academically ineligible last week.

"We made a couple mental mistakes in our passing game and Texas came in with a lot of pressure," Thomas said. "We played hard against a top team but we still have a lot to improve on."

Texas shot 50 percent (26-of-52) from the field while holding Baylor to just under 40 percent (23-of-58). The Longhorns converted 16 Baylor turnovers into 23 points and made 22-of-29 free throws, compared to just 6-of-8 for the Bears.

Baylor closed to 27-22 on Matt Sayman's 3-pointer with 4:50 left in the first half. But the Longhorns scored five straight points, all from the foul line, to open their first double-digit lead at 32-22 three minutes before the intermission.

Corey Herring scored 16 points and Tommy Swanson added 11 for Baylor.