Nebraska bounced back with a lopsided home win over Northwestern, but another difficult road test now awaits tonight at Iowa.<\/p>\n
Here is what you need to know going into the Huskers\u2019 first of two meetings with the Hawkeyes over the regular season\u2019s final three and a half weeks\u2026<\/p>\n
Who, What, Where, When<\/p>\n
Nebraska Cornhuskers (22-3, 11-3 Big Ten) at Iowa Hawkeyes (18-7, 8-6 Big Ten)<\/p>\n
Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026 \u2013 8:00 p.m. CT<\/p>\n
Carver-Hawkeye Arena (15,500)<\/p>\n
TV: Big Ten Network<\/p>\n
Radio: Huskers Radio Network<\/p>\n
Internet\/Streaming: FOX Sports App<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to get exclusive Huskers content on HuskerOnline today!<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Nebraska projected starters<\/p>\n Jamarques Lawrence<\/a>GSr.6-3\/185Lawrence played a season-low 18 minutes in the win over Northwestern. He finished with two points, two assists, two rebounds, two steals, and three turnovers. Sam Hoiberg<\/a>GSr.6-0\/180Hoiberg did it all vs. Northwestern with 14 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and four steals. He\u2019s now just one steal away from moving into ninth place in school history.Pryce Sandfort<\/a>GJr.6-7\/210After scoring a game-high 29 points with six 3-pointers vs. Northwestern, Sandfort needs one more made three to tie the NU single-season record (89).Berke Buyuktuncel<\/a>FJr.6-10\/240Buyuktuncel only scored two points on 1-of-3 shooting vs. Northwestern, but added four rebounds, four assists, and four blocks to finish +17 over his 27 minutes. Rienk Mast<\/a>FSr.6-10\/250 Mast hauled in a game-high nine rebounds (four offensive) in the win over Northwestern. However, he struggled otherwise, scoring a season-low three points with six turnovers.<\/p>\n Iowa projected starters<\/p>\n Bennett Stirtz<\/a>GSr.6-4\/190An All-Big Ten and All-American candidate, Stirtz ranks fourth in the conference at 20.4 ppg on 51.6% shooting. He\u2019s also ninth at 4.7 apg and 1.4 spg while leading the league at 36.6 mpg.Kael Combs<\/a>GJr.6-4\/205Combs is scoring 5.8 points with 2.3 rebounds per game, and his 2.3 assists per contest rank second on the team. He went scoreless over his 13 minutes in the loss to Purdue.Cooper Koch<\/a>FFr.6-8\/220Koch averages 6.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game this season. He also ranks second on the team with 32 made 3-pointers at a 37.6% clip. Tavion Banks<\/a>FSr.6-7\/215Iowa\u2019s only other scorer averaging double figures, Banks ranks second on the team at 10.9 ppg on 52.6% shooting. He also leads the Hawkeyes with 4.6 rpg.Cam Manyawu<\/a>FJr.6-9\/250Manyawu averages 6.7 points while shooting 63.6% from the field this season. He\u2019s also second on the team with 4.4 rpg and leads Iowa with 0.6 blocks per game.<\/p>\n 3 keys to victory<\/p>\n Keep Stirtz in check<\/p>\n Similar to Northwestern and Nick Martinelli<\/a>, there is one player on Iowa\u2019s roster who makes everything go for the Hawkeyes. Bennett Stirtz<\/a>, the All-American candidate transfer from Drake, does it all. He\u2019s one of the most productive scorers in the conference (20.4 ppg) while also leading his team in rebounding and assists. Few players pose a more challenging one-on-one test for Nebraska because of the variety of ways Stirtz can beat you. A true three-level scorer, the 6-foot-4 senior mas made 82 more field goals than any other Hawkeye. That includes 30 more 3-pointers as well as 25 more free throws this season. The Huskers must do all they can to keep Stirtz in check. However, with 4.7 apg, NU can\u2019t over-commit and allow him dish out easy buckets to his teammates. <\/p>\n Value every possession<\/p>\n A concerning trend has developed over Nebraska\u2019s last two games. After 14 turnovers vs. Purdue and then a season-high 18 against Northwestern, the Huskers have given the ball away at an alarming rate. The lack of ball security is especially surprising because of how efficient NU has normally been this season. Nebraska still ranks 17th nationally in offensive turnover percentage (13.8), but it must value the basketball better than ever tonight. Iowa prides itself on an aggressive, physical half-court defense, ranking 14th in the country in defensive turnover percentage (21.3). While the Hawkeyes boast a defensive steal percentage of 11.5 (49th), they also thrive on forcing non-steal turnovers. With how sloppy the Huskers have been with the basketball lately, they\u2019d better clean things up in a hurry.<\/p>\n Channel Sandfort\u2019s emotions<\/p>\n A unique storyline tonight is Pryce Sandfort\u2019s<\/a> first return to Iowa City as a Husker. The Waukee, Iowa, native played his first two college seasons with the Hawkeyes before transferring to NU last spring. With plenty of connections remaining with his former team, the junior guard must channel his emotions the right way tonight. Head coach Fred Hoiberg<\/a> wasn\u2019t worried about Sandfort\u2019s poise back in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Sandfort downplayed it as \u201cjust another road game.\u201d While the Huskers won\u2019t make much of it publicly, this one undoubtedly means a little extra to Sandfort. He\u2019ll likely get an earful from the Hawkeye faithful, too. Getting him going early against his former squad could be exactly the spark NU needs.<\/p>\n Quotable<\/p>\n \u201cSame as every game. Just another road game. Gotta be locked in.\u201d<\/p>\n -Junior guard and former Iowa transfer Pryce Sandfort on his approach to returning to Iowa City for the first time since joining Nebraska.<\/p>\n Prediction<\/p>\n Nebraska (-1.5) 68, Iowa 67<\/p>\n Robin\u2019s season record: 22-3<\/p>\n Vs. the spread: 17-8<\/p>\n Never miss breaking news or another HuskerOnline article again. Click HERE to sign up for HuskerOnline\u2019s Daily and Breaking News Newsletters!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nebraska bounced back with a lopsided home win over Northwestern, but another difficult road test now awaits tonight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,4757,217,231,772,1544,69019],"class_list":{"0":"post-608340","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bennett-stirtz-22-liberty","10":"tag-college-basketball","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-basketball","13":"tag-ncaab","14":"tag-pryce-sandfort-23-waukee-northwest"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}