Iowa is playing on Super Bowl Sunday for the sixth time in seven years. Tip off is set for 2 p.m. on FS1.
After an impressive Pacific Northwest road trip that saw it pick up wins over Oregon and Washington, Iowa men's basketball is back in Iowa City for a matchup against Northwestern on Super Bowl Sunday.
The Hawkeyes (17-5, 7-4) seek a sixth consecutive win for the first time in 10 years, while the Wildcats (10-13, 2-10) are limping through another difficult season.
This will be the sixth time in the last seven seasons Iowa will play on Super Bowl Sunday. The only exception was 2024-25, when the Hawkeyes hosted Wisconsin the day before Super Bowl LIX.
Game Notes/Information
Sunday's game will tip off at 2 p.m. on FS1 (Noah Reed and Steve Prohm will call the action).
Iowa has won five straight Big Ten games for the first time since the 2021-22 season. The Hawkeyes have won three straight league road games for the first time since that same season.
Iowa's 17-5 start is its best through 22 games since 2018-19. That team won 23 games and reached the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Senior Bennett Stirtz has scored 20+ points in five straight games (12 times this season). He erupted for a career-high 32 points on 12-of-15 shooting with four 3-pointers, seven assists, two steals and zero turnovers in Iowa’s road win at Oregon. He is the first player in the StatHead era to have 30+ points, 6+ assists and zero turnovers.
Junior Alvaro Folgueiras has scored in double figures in three straight games in wins over USC, Oregon and Washington. Iowa is 11-0 this season when the forward reaches double digits.
The Hawkeyes are allowing 63.5 points per game -- the fewest in the Big Ten and seventh-fewest nationally. Iowa has held six opponents under 60 points this season, with none of its opponents reaching their season average on the year.
The rundown
Northwestern is always a tough out under 13th-year head coach Chris Collins, but the Wildcats have endured a period of great struggle since their last NCAA tournament berth two years ago.
Northwestern slumped to just 17-16 and 7-13 in league play last year, and its young roster has struggled to close out games in 2025-26. The 'Cats entered their previous game against Illinois on Feb. 4 with wins in two out of their last three contests, but any momentum Northwestern had was extinguished in Champaign.
The Fighting Illini breezed to a 40-point win, and it probably wasn't even that close. The Wildcats shot a putrid 29% from the floor and didn't crack 30 points until midway through the second half.
Nick Martinelli, the Big Ten's leading scorer (22.8 PPG) was held to just four points on 2/10 shooting, but that's been the lone bump in the road of what has otherwise been a terrific senior campaign. Northwestern likely wouldn't be very competitive without Martinelli, as he's scored in double figures in each conference game.
Arrinten Page (11.3 PPG) and Jayden Reid (10.3 PPG) are the only other Wildcats to average double figures, and the inexperience has led to one of the Big Ten's worst offenses. The 'Cats are posting just 69.8 points per game in league play, while allowing opponents to score nearly 80 (third-worst in the conference).
Prediction: Iowa 79, Northwestern 58
Iowa is playing terrific basketball right now, and its hard to see that slowing down against Northwestern. Martinelli's post presence could be a problem for the undersized Hawkeyes, but the Wildcats don't have many other options outside of him.
Give me Iowa to continue its winning ways at home.