The buzz started when Patrick McCaffery headed off the Iowa bench to watch the game.
When McCaffery entered the game, the ovation became a standing ovation.
And Carver-Hawkeye Arena was at its loudest of the day when his first shot went through the net for a 3-pointer.
McCaffery returned in Iowa’s 93-82 win over Rutgers on Sunday.
McCaffery played 13 minutes and scored nine points with two rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal — a stat line that stuck to the box score for the Hawkeyes (13-8 overall, 5-5 Big Ten) due to the importance of his return.
McCaffery said he doesn’t want to go too deep into what he’s done the last few weeks — he’ll save that for the end of the season.
But hearing the roar of the crowd was the perfect comeback.
“It was a lot,” McCaffery said. “It’s been a pretty emotional couple of weeks. So, you know, going out there and getting love from the Hawkeye fans is something that makes me feel really good and makes it worth coming back.
“It was great,” said Iowa coach Fran McCaffery, Patrick’s father. “I would say I’m not surprised because he practiced hard yesterday and hit well and played well. He looks like himself.”
Patrick McCaffery entered the game at 13:56 of the first half. The 3-pointer came exactly two minutes later, and as he passed through McCaffery, he threw his right hand around the area and did a 360-degree spin, seemingly taking in the buzz from all directions.
“As soon as it got out of hand, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, this is going in,'” Patrick said. “Seeing him go in — because that can happen sometimes when it feels good and not go in — hearing the crowd and coming back was just, you know, a moment I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” he said.
“I think the most impressive thing to me is that he didn’t think he got that shot, he didn’t hesitate,” Fran McCaffery said. “He just pulled.”
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Patrick had been practicing for two weeks, and his return was a “game-time decision” from then on. When he was in full uniform just hours before tip-off on Sunday, the decision seemed clear.
13 minutes from Patrick’s exit was exactly what Fran McCaffery expected.
“I was ready to go a little further,” Fran said.
Then the boy thought about what he had done.
“Boy was great,” Fran said.
The Hawkeyes seem to have eaten up Patrick’s return. Four players scored in double figures, led by Chris Murray’s 22 points, and Iowa shot 43.3 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range against the Big Ten’s top scoring defense.
“Once the shots started falling, we got a lot of movement and momentum into our offense,” Murray said.
An 11-2 run in the first half gave the Hawkeyes a 45-34 halftime lead and Rutgers (14-7, 6-4) pulled within 68-67 with eight minutes left, but the Scarlet Knights would never end the chase.
“We scored a lot of points in this game,” Rutgers coach Steve Pickel said. But you can’t go on the road and leave 90 points. You can’t get into a you-score-them-goal game with them.
Iowa was also 29-of-34 on free throws.
“One of the ways to get to 93 is to shoot 34 free throws,” Fran McCaffery said. “We had a lot of guys attacking. And that wasn’t always perfect. But I think the thinking was very effective.
For the boy, the thought of returning was the right choice.
“The support really meant a lot and let me know I was doing the right thing,” Patrick said. “Everyone gave me confidence that I was doing the right thing for myself. Most of all, I was able to learn about myself and then I was able to come back and help the team.