Nebraska Men's Basketball Climbs Back into the Top 10 After 2-0 Week

Nebraska rose three spots in the AP men's basketball poll after winning its final two games to round out the month of February, and it could look to climb even higher to end the year.

A 2-0 week saw the Huskers once again become a top 10 team in America after Monday's rankings were released, making it their eighth time doing so in the last nine weeks. They are now slotted in as the No. 9 team in the country.

With just two regular-season games left, the Big Red have already secured the most wins in a regular season in program history. Now, they'll look to distance themselves from teams of the past further in the final week before the postseason begins.

No. 9 pic.twitter.com/x6bOl6hUL6
— Nebraska Men's Basketball (@HuskerMBB) March 2, 2026

Heading into last week, the Huskers were preparing to play their 17th and 18th conference games of the season, the first at home and the second on the road. In Lincoln on Wednesday evening, Nebraska was viewed as the heavy favorite against a reeling Maryland Terrapins squad. To the oddsmakers' credit, the contests played out as projected. After taking a six-point lead into the halftime break, NU once again put its foot on the gas in the second half and finished the contest with a 74-61 win, which gave them their 13th Big Ten victory on the year.

Following the game at Pinnacle Bank Arena, the Huskers received a three-day break before travelling to Los Angeles to take on the USC Trojans. At the Galen Center, the Big Red struggled mightily in the first half, heading into the break down 36-31. Committing seven turnovers and shooting just 12-for-34 from the field, Nebraska managed to dig itself out of the hole it found itself in in the second half. Scoring an impressive 51 points in the final 20 minutes of play, NU managed to do what was expected of them when the game was said and done. With a final score of 82-67, the victory over the Trojans marked the Huskers' ninth conference victory that ended with a double-digit lead.

In total, both contests resembled incomplete games from Nebraska's point of view. While they ended in wins on both occasions, the Huskers have consistently struggled to put a full 40 minutes together on the same night, and that did not change this past week. Even with spurts of adversity coming their way, they've still managed to put themselves in contention to head into the Big Ten tournament with the second overall seed. However, they'll need to finish the final week of play with another 2-0 record to say that.

Nothing like some #GBR chants in LA 🗣️🔊 pic.twitter.com/fCp7ab94Ln
— Nebraska On BTN (@NebraskaOnBTN) February 28, 2026

Looking ahead to the upcoming week, Nebraska will get ready to take on an inconsistent but dangerous 19-10 (11-7 Big Ten) UCLA Bruins squad on the road before coming back home to take on the 20-9 (10-8 Big Ten) Iowa Hawkeyes to end the regular season. In their final of two consecutive road games during their California stretch, the Huskers will need to bring a serious sense of urgency to emerge victorious at the Pauley Pavilion. Against USC, NU showed they're not invincible and found themselves down to start the second half. While they ultimately dug themselves out of that hole and won, a similar situation against a more competent UCLA team might not end with the same 'Go Big Red" chants as the final buzzer sounds.

After Tuesday's contests, the Huskers will have a five-day break to recover and prepare to get their get back at it against rival Iowa at home. Losing the first contest 57-52, Nebraska got physically dismantled at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Feb. 17, and they will need to answer the call on March 8 to avoid going winless this season against their unranked foe. At home, the Big Red are expected to end the regular season with a convincing victory over the Hawkeyes; however, do not be surprised if that game is as tough as the first. Still, they'll have every opportunity to end the season with a 27-4 (16-4 Big Ten) record, if the best version of the Huskers we've seen all year is the one that takes the court this week.

This is March. pic.twitter.com/zGY9GUVZsl
— Nebraska Men's Basketball (@HuskerMBB) March 1, 2026

As it currently stands, NU's 14-4 conference record slots them tied for second place in the conference, trailing only Michigan. With a 58-56 victory over Michigan State back in January, the Huskers also hold the tiebreaker against the Spartans, whom they find themselves battling for the two seed. Illinois (13-5 Big Ten) also trails both teams by just one game, so ending the regular season with a 2-0 week would absolutely give Nebraska a second-place finish in conference to end the year.

Doing that allows the Big Red to avoid playing Michigan in the conference tournament until the championship game, assuming both squads manage to find themselves playing in it. It also means that their tentative schedule includes a matchup with an emerging victor out of the likes of Rutgers, Penn State, Indiana, or UCLA in their first game after earning the highly coveted triple-bye. All four of those programs are schools that Nebraska has or will have already played by the time the tournament takes place, and three out of the four have been beaten by the Huskers at least once this year to date.

For now, that matchup is one in which the Huskers will absolutely like their odds to come out on top, but once again, finishing the regular season with two more victories is of the utmost importance before doing that. Neither UCLA nor Iowa will hand the Big Red victories to end the year, so instead, Nebraska will need to take them from its conference foes. 27 regular season wins sound nice, but so too does an easier path to the Big Ten title, and bringing that back to Lincoln would be remembered far longer than winning regular season games. Ultimately, NU is one of the teams to beat, and that is refreshing in its own right. Still, living up to the standard they've set for themselves will be a challenge of its own.

Men's Week 17 AP Top 25

Duke
Arizona
Michigan
UConn
Florida
Iowa State
Houston
Michigan State
Nebraska
Texas Tech
Illinois
Gonzaga
Virginia
Kansas
Purdue
Alabama
North Carolina
St. John’s
Miami (OH)
Arkansas
Saint Mary’s
Miami (FL)
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Saint Louis

Nebraska Men's Basketball 2025-26 Schedule

Oct. 18 Nebraska 90, BYU 89
Oct. 27 Nebraska 91, Midland 50
Nov. 3 Nebraska 86, West Georgia 53
Nov. 8 Nebraska 96, Florida International 66
Nov. 11 Nebarska 69, Maryland-Eastern Shore 50
Nov. 15 Nebraska 105, Oklahoma 99 (Sanford Pentagon)
Nov. 20 Nebraska 84, New Mexico 72 (Hall of Fame Classic)
Nov. 21 Nebraska 86, Kansas State 85 (Hall of Fame Classic)
Nov. 25 Nebraska 80, Winthrop 73
Nov. 29 Nebraska 72, South Carolina Upstate 63
Dec. 7 Nebraska 71, Creighton 50
Dec. 10 Nebraska 90, Wisconsin 60
Dec. 13 Nebraska 83, Illinois 80
Dec. 21 Nebraska 78, North Dakota 55
Dec. 30 Nebraska 86, New Hampshire 55
Jan. 2 Nebraska 58, Michigan State 56
Jan. 5 Nebraska 72, Ohio State 69
Jan. 10 Nebraska 83, Indiana 77
Jan. 13 Nebraska 90, Oregon 55
Jan. 17 Nebraska 77, Northwestern 58
Jan. 21 Nebraska 76, Washington 66
Jan. 24 Nebraska 76, Minnesota 57
Jan. 27 Michigan 75, Nebraska 72
Feb. 1 Illinois 78, Nebraska 69
Feb. 7 Nebraska 80, Rutgers 68
Feb. 10 Purdue 80, Nebraska 77
Feb. 14 Nebraska 68, Northwestern 49
Feb. 17 Iowa 57, Nebraska 52
Feb. 21 Nebraska 87, Penn State 64
Feb. 25 Nebraska 74, Maryland 61
Feb. 28 Nebraska 82, USC 67
March 3 UCLA 10 p.m. FS1
March 8 Iowa 4 p.m. FOX
March 10-15 Big Ten Tournament in Chicago

Home games are bolded. All times central.