The Indiana Hoosiers learn something new every night. On Wednesday, they got a full-fledged course on how to start a second half, how to pull away from an opponent -- and how not to close out a game.
Devan Dumes scored 20 points and Tom Pritchard had 15 points and 11 rebounds, and the Hoosiers survived TCU's frantic late comeback bid for a 66-56 victory.
"The way we ended the game was a microcosm of how we finished practice the last couple of days and it was good for them to learn," coach Tom Crean said. "Everything is a new experience for us."
Winning in Bloomington shouldn't be.
The Hoosiers (5-4) won for the first time in three games and improved to 183-18 all-time against nonconference foes inside Assembly Hall although this one came with plenty of lessons and consternation.
They were out of sync in the first half and the mishmash of miscues in the final 90 seconds allowed TCU (7-4) to make the final score look much closer than it actually was. Indiana led by 22 with 1:27 to go before the young team lost its poise and a rash of turnovers allowed the Horned Frogs to score the final 12 points.
Players weren't the only ones who were rattled.
"I'm disappointed in the number of turnovers tonight (19) because I thought our numbers would be down," Crean said. "They would have been if the game ended after 38½ minutes, and some of us thought it did."
Still, it wasn't enough for TCU (7-4) to extend its longest winning streak, six games, in a decade.
The reason: TCU didn't play like itself.
Opponents had been shooting just 38.9 percent from the field during the winning streak, but Indiana shot 44.9 percent, including 56 percent in the second half when it took control.
The Hoosiers also were 6-of-18 on 3-pointers, far better than the 20.2 percent the Horned Frogs had been allowing.
And TCU, which has seven newcomers on the roster, lost leading scorer Kevin Langford with 10:04 left when he fouled out. Plus, the Frogs committed 21 turnovers, far more than first-year coach Jim Christian thought his team could afford against one of his closest friends, Crean.
Zvonko Buljan had 19 points and Keion Mitchem finished with 10 to lead TCU.
"Give credit to Indiana, they beat us to loose balls, and Tom Pritchard had nine offensive rebounds," Christian said. "They made good decisions and we made bad decisions, and in the second half, I thought we lost our composure."
That was exactly the point Crean stressed at halftime -- playing better to start the second half.
He challenged the Hoosiers to come play with the energy and passion they seemed to lack early in the second half in other games this season, and this time, they responded.
"We knew the first four minutes were going to be crucial and we played well," Pritchard said.
But Indiana's second-half surge was actually ignited in the closing seconds of the first half when Malik Story's buzzer-beating 3-pointer gave the Hoosiers a 27-23 lead and whipped the crowd into a frenzy.
The excitement, Crean said, carried over into the locker room and then into the second half as Indiana scored the first four points to extend the lead to 31-23.
After TCU closed to 33-29, the Hoosiers responded with six straight points to finally build a double-digit lead, then used another quick scoring flurry midway through the second half to extend the margin to a seemingly safe 51-33 cushion.
It wasn't safe but it was enough.
"We've got to understand that there's a difference between coming out to play a close game and coming out to win," Crean said. "What we have to continue to learn is that the more we play through Tom and Kyle (Taber) inside, the better it is for the drivers. We're still too much of a dribble team."
Indiana played its third straight game without guard Verdell Jones, who has been out with a concussion since running into a pick Nov. 30.
