Men's basketball pulls it out in 2nd half

Maybe it was freshman Malik Story’s buzzer-beating 3 to end the first half. Maybe it was learning from their last two games against highly ranked opponents. 

Whatever the reason, the Hoosiers uncharacteristically came out in the second half on fire, turning a four-point halftime lead into a second half laughter against TCU.

“The first four minutes of the second half were really crucial in burying a team,” said freshman forward Tom Pritchard. “That’s what we had to do, and we did it.”

In their four losses this season, the Hoosiers have been the ones buried and playing flat in the second half – they were outscored 167-109 in those games.

But Wednesday night was a different story.

IU scored 12 more points in the second half than they did in the first frame, which allowed them to hold on to the lead after a late flurry by TCU. The Hoosiers, who led by 23 points with 2:30 remaining, beat the Horned Frogs 66-56.

The quick improvements coming out of the gate at halftime were a 180-degree turn to what happened the last time IU took the court. Against Gonzaga the, Hoosiers committed four turnovers and were outscored 6-0 in the first two minutes of the second half, changing the game from a closely contested four-point battle into a double-digit deficit.

But on Wednesday, the Hoosiers were the team applying the pressure – forcing the Horned Frogs to commit 13 of their 21 turnovers in the second half, which lead to several easy baskets for IU.

TCU coach Jim Christian said his team simply lost its control of the game in the second half.  

“In the second half I thought we lost our composure, which we can’t do,” Christian said.  

IU coach Tom Crean admitted that coming out strong in the second half had been a point of emphasis for the team. Crean said he thought the team needed to have the best start to a second half they had all season – something he felt the team accomplished.   

Crean gave partial credit to the strong start and how the end of the first half played out. Up just one with 10 seconds left, the Hoosiers forced a turnover, which led to the long, high arching 3 from Story.

Did the momentum of that shot carry over?

“Absolutely,” Crean said. “They were buzzing when they got to the locker room because it’s momentum. I’ve been on the other side of that shot, and that was a real jolt for our guys.”

Of course, it was far from a perfect half. The Hoosiers still committed 11 second half turnovers, as well as allowing the Horned Frogs to go on a 12-0 run in the final 68 seconds to make a would-be 23 point thumping into a mere 10 point shellacking.

Crean chose to look at the glass half full.

“We’re going to focus on the 38-and-a-half minutes that we played so well,” Crean said.