2025–26 Northern Iowa Panthers men's basketball team

2025–26 Northern Iowa Panthers men's basketball
2025–26 Northern Iowa Panthers men's basketball
Conference	Missouri Valley Conference
Record	16–10 (8–7 MVC)
Head coach	Ben Jacobson (20th season);
Associate head coach	P. J. Hogan
Assistant coaches	Seth Tuttle; Gameli Ahelegbe;
Home arena	McLeod Center

2025–26 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Belmont	14	–	3	.824	24	–	4	.857
UIC	11	–	6	.647	15	–	13	.536
Bradley	11	–	6	.647	18	–	10	.643
Murray State	11	–	7	.611	19	–	10	.655
Illinois State	10	–	7	.588	18	–	10	.643
Northern Iowa	10	–	7	.588	18	–	10	.643
Valparaiso	9	–	8	.529	15	–	13	.536
Southern Illinois	7	–	10	.412	13	–	15	.464
Drake	6	–	12	.333	12	–	17	.414
Indiana State	3	–	14	.176	10	–	18	.357
Evansville	2	–	14	.125	6	–	21	.222

† 2026 MVC tournament winner As of February 18, 2026

The 2025–26 Northern Iowa Panthers men's basketball team represent the University of Northern Iowa during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Panthers, led by 20th-year head coach Ben Jacobson, play their home games at the McLeod Center located in Cedar Falls, Iowa as members of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Previous season

The Panthers finished the 2024–25 season 20–13, 14–6 in MVC play to finish in third place.^[1] They were upset in the quarterfinals of the MVC tournament by Valparaiso.^[2] They received an at-large berth to the National Invitation Tournament where they lost to SMU in the first round.^[3]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition season
November 1, 2025* 7:00 pm, ESPN+	Upper Iowa	W 96–64		McLeod Center Cedar Falls, IA
Regular season
November 6, 2025* 7:00 pm, ESPN+	Cal State Northridge	W 86–57	1–0	McLeod Center (3,173) Cedar Falls, IA
November 9, 2025* 1:00 pm, ESPN+	South Dakota State	W 65–58	2–0	McLeod Center (3,657) Cedar Falls, IA
November 14, 2025* 6:00 pm, ESPN+	Furman	W 70–54	3–0	McLeod Center (3,585) Cedar Falls, IA
November 18, 2025* 7:00 pm, ESPN+	Northern Illinois	W 70–57	4–0	McLeod Center (3,283) Cedar Falls, IA
November 22, 2025* 7:00 pm, ESPN+	at UC Irvine	W 70–69 ^OT	5–0	Bren Events Center (1,618) Irvine, CA
November 25, 2025* 3:00 pm, CBSSN	vs. Loyola–Chicago Acrisure Holiday Invitational Semifinal	W 72–51	6–0	Acrisure Arena Palm Springs, CA
November 26, 2025* 3:30 pm, CBSSN	vs. Tulsa Acrisure Holiday Invitational Final	L 60–63	6–1	Acrisure Arena Palm Springs, CA
December 1, 2025* 7:00 pm, ESPN+	Coe	W 99–34	7–1	McLeod Center (2,686) Cedar Falls, IA
December 6, 2025* 7:00 pm, ESPN+	Wichita State	L 69–74 ^OT	7–2	McLeod Center (4,034) Cedar Falls, IA
December 13, 2025* 5:00 pm, ESPN+	Oakland	W 75–63	8–2	McLeod Center (3,794) Cedar Falls, IA
December 17, 2025 4:00 pm, Marquee	at UIC	W 60–54	9–2 (1–0)	Credit Union 1 Arena Chicago, IL
December 22, 2025* 9:00 pm, ESPN+	at Saint Mary's	L 58–63	9–3	University Credit Union Pavilion (3,500) Moraga, CA
December 29, 2025 7:00 pm, MVC TV Network	Valparaiso	W 58–48	10–3 (2–0)	McLeod Center (3,558) Cedar Falls, IA
January 1, 2026 7:00 pm, ESPN+	Indiana State	W 75–66	11–3 (3–0)	McLeod Center (3,322) Cedar Falls, IA
January 4, 2026 3:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Evansville	W 62–48	12–3 (4–0)	Ford Center (3,717) Evansville, IN
January 7, 2026 6:00 pm, MVC TV Network	Belmont	L 65–78	12–4 (4–1)	McLeod Center (3,626) Cedar Falls, IA
January 10, 2026 5:00 p.m., ESPNU	at Bradley	L 69–75	12–5 (4–2)	Carver Arena (6,004) Peoria, IL
January 13, 2026 6:00 pm, MVC TV Network	UIC	L 61–69	12–6 (4–3)	McLeod Center (3,344) Cedar Falls, IA
January 17, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Valparaiso	L 44–54	12–7 (4–4)	Athletics–Recreation Center (1,863) Valparaiso, IN
January 21, 2026 8:00 p.m., ESPNU	at Illinois State	L 54–59	12–8 (4–5)	CEFCU Arena (4,312) Normal, IL
January 24, 2026 3:00 pm, CBSSN	Murray State	W 81–76	13–8 (5–5)	McLeod Center (4,073) Cedar Falls, IA
January 28, 2026 6:00 pm, MVC TV Network	at Southern Illinois	L 50–65	13–9 (5–6)	Banterra Center (3,670) Carbondale, IL
January 31, 2026 3:00 pm, ESPN+	Evansville	W 71–55	14–9 (6–6)	McLeod Center (4,136) Cedar Falls, IA
February 6, 2026 7:00 pm, CBSSN	Bradley	W 61–49	15–9 (7–6)	McLeod Center (4,186) Cedar Falls, IA
February 9, 2026 9:00 pm, CBSSN	at Murray State	W 89–60	16–9 (8–6)	CFSB Center (4,394) Murray, KY
February 12, 2026 8:00 pm, MVC TV Network	at Belmont	L 86–91	16–10 (8–7)	Curb Event Center (1,601) Nashville, TN
February 15, 2026 2:00 pm, CBSSN	Drake Rivalry	W 86–62	17–10 (9–7)	McLeod Center (5,786) Cedar Falls, IA
February 18, 2026 6:00 pm, ESPN+	at Indiana State	W 81–60	18–10 (10–7)	Hulman Center (4,208) Terre Haute, IN
February 21, 2026 5:00 pm, ESPN+	Southern Illinois Senior Day			McLeod Center Cedar Falls, IA
February 25, 2026 6:00 pm, ESPNU	Illinois State			McLeod Center Cedar Falls, IA
March 1, 2026 2:00 pm, ESPN+	at Drake Rivalry			The Knapp Center Des Moines, IA
Conference tournament
March 5–8, 2026* TBA, CBS/CBSSN/ MVC TV Network	vs. TBD Arch Madness			Enterprise Center St. Louis, MO
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time Zone.

Source^[4]^[5]

References

^ "2024-25 Northern Iowa Panthers Men's Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved November 17, 2025.
^ "Valparaiso 64-63 Northern Iowa (Mar 7, 2025) Game Recap". ESPN. Retrieved November 17, 2025.
^ "SMU 73-63 Northern Iowa (Mar 19, 2025) Game Recap". ESPN. Retrieved November 17, 2025.
^ "2025-26 Northern Iowa Panthers Men's Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved October 31, 2025.
^ "2025-26 Men's Basketball Schedule". UNI Athletics. Retrieved October 31, 2025.

[1] "2024-25 Northern Iowa Panthers Men's Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved November 17, 2025.

[2] "Valparaiso 64-63 Northern Iowa (Mar 7, 2025) Game Recap". ESPN. Retrieved November 17, 2025.

[3] "SMU 73-63 Northern Iowa (Mar 19, 2025) Game Recap". ESPN. Retrieved November 17, 2025.

[4] "2025-26 Northern Iowa Panthers Men's Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved October 31, 2025.

[5] "2025-26 Men's Basketball Schedule". UNI Athletics. Retrieved October 31, 2025.

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Northern Iowa Panthers men's basketball
Venues	UNI-Dome (1976–2006) McLeod Center (2006–present)
Rivalries	Drake Iowa "Big Four"
Culture & lore	2007 Summer Universiade
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26