Nebraska Men's Basketball Remains in Top 10 For Program-Record Seventh Consecutive Week

Nebraska slid down two spots after losing its third game of the year, but it is still viewed as one of the top 10 teams in America despite the loss.

After splitting last week's games in a manner in which the Huskers easily could've won or lost both of them, the Big Red continues to make history after the Week 15 edition of the Associated Press poll was released. Now ranked No. 9 for the third time this year, NU has continued its program record of consecutive weeks within the top 10, which has grown to seven in a row.

With six games left on the year, here's a recap of what happened last week, and who the Huskers will need to defeat to climb back up the rankings when they are released at this time next week.

Heading into last week, the Huskers saw their second-to-last back-to-back at home of the year. Their first matchup was against then-ranked No. 13 Purdue, in which NU were the slight favorites inside Pinnacle Bank Arena.

A rough first half saw Nebraska trail by 16 points at the break, with the Boilermakers leading in nearly every statistic category of worth somewhat convincingly. Still, the Huskers managed to crawl back from an eventual season-high deficit of 22 points to tie the game at the end of regulation. In overtime, NU would go on to lose the contest 80-77, but despite that, it proved that it was still capable of competing with any team in the country, even on their worst nights.

Looking to bounce back against a Northwestern team they'd already beaten earlier in the year, Nebraska allowed the Wildcats to stick around for a large majority of the game. For a team that generally tends to take care of the ball at a high level, the Huskers turned the ball over 18 times in the game. Regardless of that, by the time the final buzzer sounded, they'd won the contest by 19 points.

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— Nebraska Men's Basketball (@HuskerMBB) February 14, 2026

Looking ahead to the upcoming week, Nebraska will get ready to travel to Iowa City to take on the 18-7 (8-6 Big Ten) Iowa Hawkeyes on Tuesday night. Originally viewed as a contest in which the Huskers were slight underdogs, the line has since moved slightly in favor of the Big Red. Still, Carver-Hawkeye Arena will undoubtedly be preparing to give NU everything it's got, and the mistakes Nebraska made the previous week will need to be fixed before going on the road to emerge victorious.

After that, they'll get a four-day break before welcoming Penn State to Lincoln. While the Nittany Lions are having, by all accounts, a down year, their 11-15 (2-13 Big Ten) squad still poses a threat, to say the least. Nebraska is considered the heavy favorite in this upcoming matchup, but it will still need to play its best brand of basketball to get the job done. The home crowd, on Saturday afternoon, should only add fuel to the fire of an eventual Husker victory, but Penn State has plenty to play for against a ranked opponent as well.

With the opportunity and odds currently favored to go 2-0 on the week, Nebraska no longer has the luxury of losing a game it is favored in for the remainder of the year. Handling business on the road against a rival would appear to do wonders for this team's confidence after a rough start to the month of February, but a win against Iowa will be far from handed to them. So too is a home game against the Nittany Lions, who are searching for their marquee win of the year.

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— Nebraska Men's Basketball (@HuskerMBB) February 15, 2026

Going undefeated this week would also keep the Big Red in contention for the Big Ten regular-season title, along with the No. 1 seed heading into the conference tournament, considering the opponents the teams ranked above them have left. It's still a long shot; however, if Nebraska manages to win out, with its favorable remaining schedule, it could enter the conference tournament as the top team.

Regardless, a triple bye in the tournament is still very much at stake. As it currently stands, the Huskers are the fourth-seeded team in conference and will need to stay that way to earn an automatic bid into the quarterfinals. Having lost to Michigan, Illinois, and now Purdue, the only remaining top 4 seed the Big Red have won a game against is Illinois. The Fighting Illini are currently one game ahead of the Huskers in the standings, but take on No. 2 Michigan later in the month.

There is a path towards earning the top seed, albeit a weird one. And as unlikely as it is to occur, the Huskers will first need to handle their own business before worrying about how others end the regular season as opposed to them. For now, they've set themselves up in good standing entering the final stretch, but will need to hold firm within the rankings, at the very least, to give themselves the easiest path towards becoming champions of the Big Ten. Nothing about that will be easy, but if any Nebraska team to date will do it, it is the 2025-26 iteration.

Men's Week 14 AP Top 25

Michigan
Houston
Duke
Arizona
UConn
Iowa State
Purdue
Kansas
Nebraska
Illinois
Gonzaga
Florida
Texas Tech
Virginia
Michigan State
North Carolina
St. Johns
Saint Louis
Vanderbilt
Arkansas
Louisville
Miami (OH)
BYU
Wisconsin
Alabama

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 8 p.m. BTN
Feb. 21 Penn State 1 p.m. BTN
Feb. 25 Maryland 6 p.m. BTN
Feb. 28 USC 3 p.m. BTN
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.

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