It's Super Bowl Sunday, and Wildcat fans get to start their sports-watching evening early. At 2 p.m. CT, Northwestern is on the road at Iowa to take on the Hawkeyes before the big game.

The 'Cats are coming off a brutal blow-out loss at the hands of cross-state rival Illinois. That game was on the road as well, so this marks a two-game stretch away from Welsh-Ryan. Iowa is not as good as Illinois, but it's still heavily favored in this game, and Northwestern will need a really impressive performance to complete the upset.

The Hawkeyes currently sit at 17-5 overall and 7-4 in conference. Meanwhile, the 'Cats have slipped all the way to 2-10 in the B1G.

Bennett Stirtz is the player to watch on the opposing side this afternoon. The senior transfer guard is averaging 19.2 points per game this year and five assists. Coming over from Drake with new head coach Ben McCollum, he's been a revelation this year in Iowa City.

Tavion Banks is the second-leading scorer, averaging 10.8 ppg, but controlling Stirtz is the key to victory for the Wildcats. Unlike Illinois, the Hawkeyes don't have a ton of horses capable of completely taking over a ballgame.

They're built a little more similarly to the 'Cats -- one great player and a bunch of supplementary pieces -- but the supplementary pieces have shown up far more consistently.

Northwestern is going to need a bounce-back performance from Nick Martinelli, who just had by far his least productive game of the year vs. the Illini. It's a good bet that he will be better against Iowa, but he also needs his teammates to make life easier on him.

In recent games, it feels like the conference has figured out how to deal with the 'Cats defensively. They've simply left Northwestern's shooters open outside the arc and collapsed on Martinelli in the post.

This has worked because the 'Cats cannot hit threes -- nobody has emerged as a consistent option. Will we finally see more of K.J. Windham to address this problem? Will Max Green have more of a green light? (sorry)

It remains to be seen, but Chris Collins needs to figure out a way to get this team more confident shooting the basketball. Somehow, they need to be able to stretch out this Iowa defense to give Martinelli more of a chance on the interior. It can't be on him to make the threes and dominate down there.

Here's everything you need to know about the matchup.

Northwestern Wildcats (10-13, 2-10 B1G) at Iowa (17-5, 7-4 B1G)

Location: Carver-Hawkeye Arena | Iowa City, Iowa

Tipoff: Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. CT

TV: FS1

Radio: WGN Radio 720

Line (ESPNBET): Iowa -10.5

Northwestern OUT:

NONE

Iowa OUT:

Peyton McCollum (Season)