By Dallas Jones

IOWA CITY, IOWA – Back to back road losses had the Iowa Hawkeyes and their fans ready for a big win against Rutgers on Sunday afternoon.

While much of the country was watching championship Sunday. Iowa basketball fans were treated to an offensive flurry and the return of a major player.

They answered the call and started their home stand with an eleven point victory over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

The Hawkeyes lead the entire conference in points per game and scored 93 points on 26-60 (43.3%) from the field, 12-24 (50%) from three and 29-34 (85.3%) from the line.

Check out my takeaways and postgame comments here:

Ahron Ulis confidence scoring continues: Coming off a career high 17 points against Michigan State Thursday night, Ahron Ulis came into today’s matchup with Rutgers with a high confidence level.

That confidence showed in the first half, when he put up 12 points (4-6 fg, 2-3 3fg) in 13 minutes. He has now registered double digits scoring outputs in three consecutive games.

Ulis finished the game with 14 points now averaging 14.3 ppg in his last three games on 60.7% from the field.

The Hawkeyes already lead the conference in points per game. If Ulis can keep this consistency up or close to this level, Iowa can be a problem for the conference in the coming weeks.

Patrick McCaffery’s return brings energy: With 13:55 left in the first half, Iowa forward Patrick McCaffery walked to the scorers table and checked into the game for the first time since January 1st against Penn State due to anxiety.

McCaffery was welcomed by a roar from the crowd during his entrance and even bigger applause when he knocked down his first shot back, a three pointer just moments after checking in.

The Hawkeyes had scored ten points in the six minutes and five seconds before McCaffery checked in, then proceeded to put up 35 points in the remaining 13:55 to the half. A win was huge for the Hawkeyes and the return of Patrick came just in time.

He played a total of just under eight minutes in the first half.

He returned again in the second with 13:33 to play, Iowa led 56-46. He then hit two more threes in the second half, bringing his total to nine points in his 13 minutes of play.

He admitted that his legs were a little shot after this one, but that is expected after a few games off. His minutes will no doubt increase as they take some a couple of the conference’s best teams this week.

BIG road ahead: Iowa started this game tenth in the Big Ten standings at 4-5. Coming off of back-to-back road losses in conference, this three game home stretch this can be huge for the Hawkeyes.

Rutgers (6-3), Northwestern (6-3) and Illinois (6-4) all ranked in the top five in the conference coming into Sunday. A sweep or even two wins out of this can have huge postseason implications.

According to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, Iowa is a projected nine seed as of Friday the 27th. There is still a lot of time until these positions become final. Until then, every game counts.

You can’t play with your food: Iowa held an 11 points lead at the break due to a 11-2 run to close the half. In a perfect world, that momentum would carry into the second half and you would close the game without a scare.

Rutgers and junior wing Aundre Hyatt had different plans. Hyatt put up 13 points in the first 12 minutes of the second half including 3-3 from deep. Just that fast the Hawkeyes 11 points lead was down to just one.

Hawkeyes immediately responded with a 10-2 run to extended the lead back to nine, 78-69 with five minutes to go.

Even with a late Rutgers surge that cut the lead to five with just a few minutes left, the Hawkeyes handled business and outscored the scarlet knights by six in the last three minutes, securing their fifth Big Ten win of the year.

Next up, Northwestern at 8pm Tuesday night.

Postgame comments from both head coaches and Hawkeye players here: