Nebraska Cornhuskers vs Iowa Hawkeyes Prediction, Picks and Game Preview - 02/17/2026

Game Time: 9:00 pm ET, Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Venue:  Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, IA 

Where to Watch:  Big Ten Network

DraftKings:  Point Spread:  Nebraska -1.5, Iowa +1.5; Over/Under:  136.5 points

Bet365:  Point Spread:  Nebraska -1.5, Iowa +1.5; Over/Under:  136.5 points

BetMGM:  Point Spread:  Nebraska -1.5, Iowa +1.5; Over/Under:  136.5 points

Nebraska Cornhuskers:  22-3 (11-3) (4th place, Big Ten)

Iowa Hawkeyes:  18-7 (8-6) (8th place, Big Ten)

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Nebraska Cornhuskers:  2-3  last 5

Iowa Hawkeyes:  3-2  last 5

Nebraska is entering this game with a 22-3 record overall, a 11-3 record in conference games, and they are 6-1 in their road games this season where they will be in this game. They are coming off a win against the Northwestern Wildcats in their last game. Pryce Sandfort led the team in points in that game with 29 while Sam Hoiberg was next on the team with 14. Sam Hoiberg led the team in assists with 5 in that game while Rienk Mast led the team in rebounds with 9. They were 45.3% from the field, 44% from 3-point range, and 75% from the free throw line with their shooting in that game. Their offense is averaging 79.4 PPG and their defense is allowing their opponents to average 66 PPG against them. Nebraska has an ATS record of 14-10-1 this season and their O/U record is 8-17.

Iowa is entering this game with an 18-7 record overall, an 8-6 conference record, and they are 12-2 in their home games this season where they will be in this game. They are coming off a loss against the Purdue Boilermakers in their last game. Bennett Stirtz led the team in points in that game with 19 while Tavion Banks was next on the team with 9. Isaia Howard led the team in assists with 4 in that game while Cam Manyawu led the team in rebounds with 8. They were 37.7% from the field, 27.3% from 3-point range, and 64.7% from the free throw line with their shooting in that game. Their offense is averaging 77 PPG and their defense is allowing their opponents to average 64.9 PPG against them. Iowa has an ATS record of 15-10 this season and their O/U record is 15-10.

The current betting odds have Nebraska listed as a 1.5 point favorite in this game according to Draftkings Sportsbook. Nebraska has looked really good in their games this season with their 22-3 record overall and their 11-3 conference record which has them right near the top of the big Ten. They have been a great road team too with their 6-1 road record this year. Meanwhile, Iowa has looked good in their games this season with their 18-7 record overall and their 8-6 conference record which has them in the top half of the Big Ten. They have looked great on their home court too with their 12-2 home record this season. Iowa is 3-2 in their last 5 games and they haven't looked bad lately, but they have lost 2 games in a row now and haven't looked great in these either. They took a terrible loss to Maryland who has been one of the worst teams in the Big Ten all season, and now they are off a double digit home loss to Purdue in their last one. They weren't really competitive in that loss and they don't have a big win in the conference this season either. They have had a really weak schedule in the Big Ten so far, and they have even struggled against some of the weaker opponents they have faced lately. They don't have the talent to compete with the ranked teams in the conference and even though Nebraska hasn't looked at their best lately, they are still a much better team. Nebraska is 2-3 in their last 5 games with those being all 3 of their losses this season, but they have also had a really tough stretch of schedule lately with all of those losses being against ranked opponents. They were also really close in all 3 of those games, and now they are off another double digit win over Northwestern in their last one so they will be looking to string together 2 wins in a row again. Iowa is good, but they are not a great team while Nebraska has shown that they are an elite team in the Big Ten this season. The best way to place a bet here is on Nebraska to cover the spread in this game. 

Nebraska Iowa Prediction:  Our NCAAB Pick for Tuesday, February 17, 2026 (9:00 pm ET start time) is Nebraska 81 Iowa 76.

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Nebraska Cornhuskers: 12-6 ATS off a home win against a conference rival. 19-9 ATS after a win by 15 points or more. 24-15 ATS when playing against a good team (Win Pct. 60% to 80%). 22-16 OVER when playing against a good team (Win Pct. 60% to 80%).

Iowa Hawkeyes: 4-8 ATS after failing to cover the spread in 3 or more consecutive games. 15-24 ATS versus teams who are called for 17 or less fouls/game. 15-23 ATS versus very good teams - outscoring their opponents by 8+ points/game. 31-17 OVER in all home games.

Nebraska Cornhuskers:  L. Curtis (F) Questionable - Undisclosed. U. Jarusevicius (F) Questionable - Undisclosed. C. Essegian (G) Out - Ankle. H. Burt (F) Questionable - Undisclosed.

Iowa Hawkeyes:  P. McCollum (G) Out - Foot.

“We let their pressure and defense really dictate what we were doing early, and we weren’t getting into our flow of our offense and got stagnant. And that’s when things were breaking down.” - Fred Hoiberg after his team’s win against Northwestern in their last game. 

“It felt like we connected to the community. It was awesome that they showed up. We just weren’t great. But [Purdue] was really good too. I thought they were pretty tuned up, I thought they got shockingly better after they loss to Indiana. They changed some things. They are a completely different team than we played the first time. I told our guys, they have scars, that was the team, Braden and Fletcher, were on that team that got beat in the first round [in the NCAA Tournament]. They got scars from that and that makes them tougher.” - Ben McCollum after his team’s loss against Purdue in their last game. 

B. Buyuktuncel 

S. Hoiberg 

J. Lawrence 

R. Mast 

P. Sandfort

T. Banks 

K. Combs 

C. Koch 

C. Manyawu 

B. Stirtz

PPG: Pryce Sandfort (17.5)

APG: Sam Hoiberg (4.4)

Reb/G: Rienk Mast (6.1)

PPG: Bennett Stirtz (20.4)

APG: Bennett Stirtz (4.7)

Reb/G: Tavion Banks (4.6)

Coaches:

Nebraska Cornhuskers: Fred Hoiberg (7th season)

Iowa Hawkeyes: Ben McCollum (1st season)