Iowa center Andrew Brommer

IOWA CITY — Iowa center Andrew Brommer returned the court Monday night, one month after spraining his right knee. But just six minutes into his return, Brommer hit the new floor at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in obvious pain.

Midway through the second half, a North Carolina A&T defender brushed the brace on Brommer’s right knee. Brommer then left the game for good.

“It was a shooting pain as soon as it happened,” Brommer said. “That’s why when I went down, I assumed the worst. But it feels a lot better than it did the initial time it happened.

“It’s a good thing I had my brace on because otherwise it probably would have been the exact same thing, and I’d be out four weeks again.”

Brommer’s return coincided with his bobblehead night, which he said was motivation to return.  He scored two points and grabbed five rebounds against North Carolina A&T in a 95-79 win.

“It’s just frustrating that it happened again, but I feel like it’s just tweaked this time,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll be out the same amount of time I was out last time.”

Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery isn’t so sure, however.

“I think it’s too early to rush to any judgment about it,” McCaffery said. “We’ll see how it is tomorrow. Can we sit him out for a few days and let him play or is it going to be a longer period of time? I don’t think it’s any worse than that.”

Brommer said he still hopes to play Thursday against Northern Illinois.

“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “Hopefully I can play.”