HOUSTON, Texas — The Sweet 16 opponent for No. 4 seed Nebraska men’s basketball in the 2026 NCAA Tournament is the ninth-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes.
The Huskers and Hawkeyes will tip off at 6:30 p.m. CT at Toyota Center in Houston on Thursday.
There is clearly familiarity between the two teams, with a series split this season and the overall history, which Iowa leads 28-16, including 7-3 in the last 10 games.
Iowa Tendencies
The Hawkeyes don’t have significant Division I experience on their roster with an average of just 1.45 years (180th nationally). That doesn’t matter; just like Nebraska, they are extremely well-connected. The corps group of players for the Hawkeyes has been playing together and for head coach Ben McCollum for years now.
Star point guard Bennett Stirtz has been with McCollum for his entire career, starting at Northwest Missouri State with a stop at Drake last year.
Along with Stirtz, guards Isaia Howard and Kael Coombs and forwards Tavion Banks, Joey Matteoni and Cam Manyawu followed McCollum to Iowa from an NCAA Tournament team at Drake.
Offensively, the Hawkeyes want to play at their pace and force your defense to make decisions late in the shot clock. Their average length of possession is 19.9 seconds (363rd of 365 Division I teams) and their adjusted tempo of 62.7 ranks 361st nationally. Even though they may take some time to take shots, they hit them at a high rate with an effective field goal percentage of 56.3%, 18th in the country.
The Hawkeyes love to use ball screen actions with Stirtz in command of them and they have great spacing around those actions.
They are great at their angles, great at hitting the pocket or the elbow and attacking the glass or hitting a short roll with a cutting option.
If the Hawkeyes see a mismatch, they will hunt it or force a ball screen switch to create the matchup they want. They did that in the first matchup with Nebraska in Iowa City, finding success with Pryce Sandfort and Braden Frager switching onto Stirtz in ball screen actions.
Defensively, the Hawkeyes rank 31st nationally with a 99.7 adjusted defensive efficiency rate.
They turn teams over at a high rate at 20.5%, 15th in the country, and their non-steal turnover rate of 9.6% is fifth best nationally.
The key to Iowa’s defense is its toughness. The Hawkeyes use their off-ball physicality to deny cutters in space. Their consistency is the key; they rarely have a defensive breakdown on that end of the floor, and if they do, opponents have to capitalize.
The Hawkeyes are very active with their hands. One of the keys to its defense is swiping at the ball, in gaps or when opponents dribble in space. They do it on the catch, they do it on the move, they do it in the post. It is a key to their defense and creating longer possessions for their opponents and creating the high volume of turnovers. Because they swipe at the ball, they sometimes over help in gaps, which teams can exploit.
Roster Breakdown
The head of the snake for Iowa is obviously Stirtz. He is the Hawkeyes’ playmaker. Even when he’s not scoring, he has the ball in his hands almost all of the time — and here’s on the court almost all the time. Stirtz has played 93.7% of Iowa’s minutes this season, the fifth-highest rate in the country. He can play that many minutes because of the deliberate pace at which Iowa prefers to play.
Stirtz has the green light to take any shot he wants and is in constant ball-screen actions. He’s always in attack mode. His vision and passing ability is elite; he can find his teammates anywhere on the court with a perfect pass in the shooting pocket.
To defend Stirtz, you need to defeat ball screens and make him work for everything. He does a great job of drawing fouls, so staying down on ball fakes or when he picks up his dribble is a primary focus.
Junior wing Kael Combs is more of a driver than a 3-point shooter. He’s an active cutter and attacks off of ball screens. In one-on-one situations, he is better going to his natural left hand than right.
Freshman forward Cooper Koch has shot the ball extremely well recently, specifically from 3-point range. In the Hawkeyes’ upset win over Florida, he was 4-for-7 from the field with all four makes coming from behind the arc. Over his last five games, he is shooting 56.3%. from deep with 18 made threes.
Banks and Manyawu are two experienced players and offensive rebounding menaces. They each had four offensive rebounds in the win over Florida. They are physical in the paint and on block-outs on both ends.
Banks, a senior, scores at the rim and on put-backs. If he gets the ball at the elbow or in the pocket, he is looking to drive to the basket.
Manyawu is a strong and physical screener. He scores in the paint and is a driver to the basket in one-on-one situations. He is right-hand dominant and will favor that hand on drives and finishes at the basket.
Alvaro Folgueiras hit one of the biggest shots in Iowa history with the game winning 3-pointer against Florida. At 6-foot-10 and coming off the bench, his versatility on the offensive end is something Iowa uses to its advantage. He’s a pick-and-pop big and can score on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers. If you close out too hard, he is quick enough to get to the basket, primarily with his right hand.
Howard is the primary guard off the bench. He’s the Hawkeyes glue guy and a better driver to the basket than a 3-point shooter (27.1%). Defensively, you have to play him to drive first and be physical with block-outs to keep him off the glass.
