He’s back.

The sight of junior forward Craig Brackins demanding the ball in the post with a fire in his eyes, turning and putting the ball through the basket over a helpless defender has been missed in recent weeks at Hilton Coliseum — until Saturday night.

Brackins has been frustrated by double- and sometimes triple-teams throughout the Big 12 season thus far. On Saturday, however, Brackins saw mostly single coverage against an undersized Colorado team. He took advantage, going off for 27 points and 13 rebounds, collecting his first double-double of the conference season in the Cyclones 64–63 win over the Buffaloes.

“It’s good to have Craig back,” ISU coach Greg McDermott said after the game. “That kind of intensity, him really wanting the ball down low, I think for anybody that has forgotten what he can do when he isn’t double-teamed, tonight was a reminder of that.”

Last season, Brackins was second in the Big 12 in scoring behind eventual No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, Blake Griffin, with 21.8 points per game in the conference season. He was also third in the Big 12 with 10.3 rebounds per game.

This year, as teams are throwing more defenders Brackins’ way and the Cyclones have gotten more scoring from other players, Brackins has gotten off to a slower start in conference play. His average of 15.2 points per game this year is good enough for 14th in the Big 12. His rebounding numbers have also dropped off, as he is eighth in the Big 12 with 7.8 rebounds per game.

Even with the single-team defense and small defenders against Colorado, Brackins still struggled through the first half, shooting just 2-of-7 from the field and scoring five points. He also pulled down just three rebounds.

Brackins was able to turn his game around in the second half, however, scoring 22 of the teams 39 second-half points and grabbing 10 boards after the break.

“[At halftime] I said I was going to make a layup because I missed so many [in the first half],” Brackins said. ”I got really frustrated at myself. I told myself, ‘If I miss another one, I’m just going to grab it, and I’m going to keep doing it until it goes in.’”

That is exactly what he did, although he didn’t miss too many shots in the second half, shooting 9-of-14 from the floor to lead the Cyclones to victory.

Despite the slow starts to both the conference season and the game, McDermott had only good things to say about his star power forward.

“I’m not going to be critical of Craig Brackins because there aren’t many people in this room or in that stadium that would have made the decision he made,” McDermott said. “We owe him a lot more than he owes us.”