Win number 400 at Hilton Coliseum would have to wait.

Iowa State’s comeback hopes seemed to go out the window as forward Craig Brackins sat on the floor in pain on Tuesday night. Brackins injured his left knee, and was helped off the floor in front of a silent 13,709 fans to end his 23-point performance. Brackins would return in the final minute of play, but Minnesota already had the game comfortably in hand.

When all was said and done, the Gophers (2-0) were able to hold on for a 68-58 victory.

“It was a disappointing loss because I think we’re better than we’re playing,” coach Greg McDermott said. “Obviously our margin for error is very very slim, just because we’re really slim in a couple of spots.”

Iowa State (2-2) was still without guard Wesley Johnson, who spent the game on the bench but was dressed. McDermott said they did not plan on letting him enter the game at any point. As Brackins went down, McDermott said he feared the worst.

“Craig doesn’t go down like that, I’ve never seen it happen in practice. So when it happened, given the circumstances that have surrounded our program the last two or three weeks, we expect the worst,” McDermott said. “That was nice to see him come back and get back on the floor. Obviously we couldn’t have afforded to have that happen.”

After the game, Brackins said his knee was feeling fine, and that after he felt it pop he thought the injury was worse than it would end up being.

Brackins’ game high points along with Rahshon Clark’s 13 points weren’t enough to counter Minnesota’s Spencer Tollackson and Lawrence McKenzie, who combined for 41, as Iowa State fell to 2-2 on the season.

Tollackson, who scored 21, said Minnesota coach Tubby Smith encouraged him all week in practice to not back down, something he took to heart.

“Coach was really harping on me in practice to really take the ball strong and to draw contact and finish and try to get the and-1,” Tollackson said. “The first touch of the game I just said if I got my guy one-on-one, I’m going to the rim. If I miss it make it, it falls whatever, just to kind of get myself going in that aggressive mentality direction. It was kind of just working for me from that point on.”

Meanwhile, Brackins tried to answer. After playing a lights-out first half scoring 17 points, Brackins was unable to be a strong presence in the second half, scoring only six. McDermott was also not satisfied with Brackins grabbing only three rebounds.

“He’s not even close to reaching his potential. He made some good offensive plays tonight,” McDermott said. “He knows he needs to defend better when the game’s on the line, and we need him to get more than three rebounds when the game’s on the line. I know that sounds critical, but he can’t be a freshman for very long.”

After a Clark jumper gave Iowa State their largest lead at 41-35 early in the second half, Minnesota battled back with a 9-1 run to take a 44-42 lead before a Hubalek jumper tied the game at 44. The Gophers then went on another 13-3 run to take a 57-47 lead, capped by McKenzie’s 3-pointer and Tollackson’s lay-up off an offensive rebound.

Iowa State battled back. Brackins’ jumper cut the lead to 57-53 with 4:35 to play. Minnesota’s Dan Coleman answered with a shot on the other end to give the Gophers a 59-53 lead heading into the final official’s time-out, a lead they would never look back on.

Iowa State started the second half on fire, with a 3-pointer by Petersen and a breakaway layup by Garrett capping a 7-0 Cyclone run to take a 37-33 lead and get the Hilton crowd into a frenzy for the ensuing Gopher time-out.

After a close game and 18-18 tie in the first half, Minnesota went on a 12-4 run, capped off by Tollackson’s jumper in the paint to make the score 30-22.

Brackins got Iowa State the momentum back, first with a long fast break pass and dunk off rebound by Hubalek, and then with an inside jumper to cut the lead to 30-26. Tollackson answered with two free throws en route to a 32-28 halftime lead for the Gophers.

Iowa State struggled on the boards, getting out-rebounded 41-34, and gave up 17 offensive boards to Minnesota.

“We came out strong on offense, on defense we kind of struggled, we got outworked a little bit, something we need to work on as a team, get better,” Brackins said.

The Cyclones’ next game is next Tuesday against Northern Iowa at Hilton Coliseum.