Iowa guard Matt Gatens had surgery to remove his appendix Sunday morning.

The stomach pain put a scare into Gatens and his family, but the sophomore was feeling well enough to take calls and see visitors at Mercy Hospital by the afternoon.

“I feel a lot better than I did,” Gatens told The Daily Iowan. “At about 1 a.m., I tried to go to bed, and I couldn’t do it. I started having stomach pains. I thought ate something bad.”

The Iowa City native then drove to his parents house around 5 a.m. for help. His father, Mike Gatens, knew almost right away what the problem was. Gatens’ two older sisters both previously had the same surgery.

Matt Gatens checked into Mercy Hospital about 6 a.m., and he had surgery from 11 a.m. 1 p.m.

The surgery does not damage any muscle tissue, so recovery is fairly simple. Gatens was still receiving information from doctors, but he said he will be taking a week or so to recover before playing basketball again.