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	8–2 (0–0 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	2	–	0	1.000	11	–	1	.917
Northern Iowa	1	–	0	1.000	9	–	2	.818
Murray State	1	–	0	1.000	9	–	3	.750
Illinois State	1	–	0	1.000	9	–	3	.750
Bradley	1	–	0	1.000	8	–	4	.667
Valparaiso	0	–	0	–	6	–	5	.545
Indiana State	0	–	1	.000	7	–	5	.583
Drake	0	–	1	.000	6	–	6	.500
Southern Illinois	0	–	1	.000	6	–	6	.500
Evansville	0	–	1	.000	4	–	8	.333
UIC	0	–	2	.000	4	–	7	.364

† 2026 MVC tournament winner As of December 18, 2025

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 birth 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
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 Championship Game	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/ESPN+	at UIC			Credit Union 1 Arena Chicago, IL
December 22, 2025* 9:00 pm	at Saint Mary's			University Credit Union Pavilion Moraga, CA
December 29, 2025 7:00 pm, MVC TV Network	Valparaiso			McLeod Center Cedar Falls, IA
January 1, 2026 7:00 pm, ESPN+	Indiana State			McLeod Center Cedar Falls, IA
January 4, 2026 TBA, ESPN Wild Card	at Evansville			Ford Center Evansville, IN
January 7, 2026 6:00 pm, MVC TV Network	Belmont			McLeod Center Cedar Falls, IA
January 10, 2026 TBA, MVC TV Network	at Bradley			Carver Arena Peoria, IL
January 13, 2026 6:00 pm, MVC TV Network	UIC			McLeod Center Cedar Falls, IA
January 17, 2026 TBA, ESPN Wild Card	at Valparaiso			Athletics–Recreation Center Valparaiso, IN
January 21, 2026 TBA	at Illinois State			CEFCU Arena Normal, IL
January 24, 2026 3:00 pm, CBSSN	Murray State			McLeod Center Cedar Falls, IA
January 28, 2026 6:00 pm, MVC TV Network	at Southern Illinois			Banterra Center Carbondale, IL
January 31, 2026 3:00 pm	Evansville			McLeod Center Cedar Falls, IA
February 6, 2026 TBA	Bradley			McLeod Center Cedar Falls, IA
February 9, 2026 9:00 pm, CBSSN	at Murray State			CFSB Center Murray, KY
February 12, 2026 8:00 pm, MVC TV Network	at Belmont			Curb Event Center Nashville, TN
February 15, 2026 TBA	Drake			McLeod Center Cedar Falls, IA
February 18, 2026 TBA	at Indiana State			Hulman Center Terre Haute, IN
February 21, 2026 TBA, ESPN Wild Card	Southern Illinois			McLeod Center Cedar Falls, IA
February 25, 2026 6:00 pm, ESPN+	Illinois State			McLeod Center Cedar Falls, IA
March 1, 2026 TBA	at Drake			Knapp Center Des Moines, IA
MVC tournament
TBD TBD	TBD			Enterprise Center St. Louis, MO
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central.

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 November 17, 2025.
^ "2025-26 Men's Basketball Schedule". UNI Athletics. Retrieved December 2, 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 November 17, 2025.

[5] "2025-26 Men's Basketball Schedule". UNI Athletics. Retrieved December 2, 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