Craig Brackins versus Sherron Collins — the Big 12’s No. 3 scorer versus its No. 2. One winner.

Brackins won the battle. Collins’ Jayhawks won the game.

Despite lighting up Hilton Coliseum, Brackins’ nearly Big 12 record-breaking 42-point performance wasn’t enough to knock off the Jayhawks, who overshadowed Brackins with an 82-67 win Saturday.

“I told Sherron Collins after the game, ‘Good news, bad news,’” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “‘You played great, but no chance for Big 12 player of the week. That’s already been decided.’ [Brackins] is as good as any player in America today.”

The first half might as well have featured the two playing one-on-one. Brackins and Collins battled shot-for-shot en route to 22- and 18-point first-half performances respectively. Collins hit two threes to open the game, which put the Cyclones on their heels and the Jayhawks on the verge of running away. Brackins didn’t let that happen.

Although Brackins stayed sizzling in the second half and almost willed the Cyclones to victory, Collins went ice cold thanks to Sean Haluska’s defense. The difference in the game? Their teammates.

Brackins outscored Collins in the second half 20-8, but every Cyclone not named Craig Brackins combined for just nine points. Collins’ teammates scored 30.

“It just proves that this is a team game. You can have someone have an almost record-breaking game and it still not be enough,” coach Greg McDermott said. “All the parts have to be functioning.”

The Cyclones almost caught the Jayhawks after a Brackins 3-pointer cut a once 17-point Kansas lead to six with just over six minutes to play. After a defensive stop, Jamie Vanderbeken had a wide-open three rim out. Kansas went the other way, missed, but grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in to extend the lead to eight. The Cyclones never got any closer.

Brackins’ dominance created open looks all game for his teammates, but like Vanderbeken’s three, the shots just didn’t fall.

“They had some open looks and they knocked them down, and we had some open looks and we missed them,” McDermott said. “We had some good looks at the basket as a result of what Craig was doing, so that provided some opportunities for some guys to knock down shots and we just had another one of those days where we did not shoot it well from the perimeter.”

They definitely didn’t. Take away Brackins’ 3-of-5 shooting from downtown, and the Cyclones shot 3-of-21 (.143), well below their season average of .358. Simply put, Brackins made 11 shots, while the rest of the team made eight.

“I wish I could tell you that our game plan was to stop everybody else and make him make all the plays, but it wasn’t,” Self said. “We were fortunate that a lot of their guards missed.”

Some of the Cyclones’ regular contributors were silent in the game. Lucca Staiger, who came into the game averaging 9.1 points per game, was 1-of-7 from the arc and ended the game with five points. Bryan Petersen and Diante Garrett also struggled, each scoring two points.

“I know they can’t hit everything,” Brackins said. “I told them to just stay confident with their shots. I heard Lucca come in and he was like ‘man, I gotta hit a shot,’ I’m like just let it flow dude, don’t think about it too much. If they would have hit their shots, it would have been a whole different ball game.”

It was Brackins’ eighth double-double of the season. He now ranks fourth all time in ISU history for points in a game and is the first Cyclone to score 40 points since Fred Hoiberg scored 41 against Colorado in 1995.

He was just one shot away from tying the Big 12 record for points in a Big 12 game, and undoubtedly shined brighter than Sherron Collins.

“It doesn’t matter, we still lost and it wasn’t enough,” Brackins said.