No.24 Wisconsin Badgers look for an edge against Iowa's stingy defense

Falling to 0-2 on the season as a ranked team against power-conference opponents, No.24 Wisconsin looks to rebound when it faces Iowa this afternoon at soldout Kohl Center.

After knocking off consecutive top-10 opponents, Wisconsin saw its modest two-game win streak snapped with an 86-69 loss at Ohio State and dropped them into sixth place in the league standings.

Iowa is coming off its first signature win of the Ben McCullom tenure when it beat No.9 Nebraska, 57-52, at Carver-Hawkeyes Arena on Tuesday.

Here is a look at both teams, along with a prediction for this afternoon's contest.

Iowa (19-7, 9-6 Big Ten) vs. No.24 Wisconsin (18-8, 10-5 Big Ten)

Date/Time – Sunday, February 22, 3 p.m.
Arena – Kohl Center
TV – FS1 (Jack Kizer and Nick Bahe)
Radio – Badgers Radio Network (Matt Lepay and Brian Butch)
Coaches - Greg Gard at Wisconsin (231-125 in his 11th season). Ben McCollum (First season, 50-11 in his 2nd season)
Series – Wisconsin leads 91-86; 57-30 in Madison
Point Spread – Wisconsin -2.5

No.24 Wisconsin pits its high-scoring offense against Iowa's conference-leading defense this afternoon at the Kohl Center. How to watch, listen, and stream the game, betting lines, and things to know #Badgers https://t.co/5XMqCQH9CZ
— Benjamin Worgull (@TheBadgerNation) February 22, 2026

Wisconsin probable starters

2 Nick Boyd (6-3 Senior Guard, 20.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 3.6 apg)
7 Andrew Rohde (6-6 Senior Guard, 6.2 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.8 apg)
25 John Blackwell (6-4 Junior Guard, 18.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.4 apg)
31 Nolan Winter (6-11 Junior Forward, 13.6 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 1.7 apg)
32 Aleksas Bieliauskas (6-10 Freshman Forward, 4.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 0.7 apg)
Off the bench
0 Braeden Carrington (6-5 Senior Guard, 7.6 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.0 apg)
13 Hayden Jones (6-6 Freshman Guard, 1.9 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 0.4 apg)
22 Austin Rapp (6-10 Sophomore Forward, 9.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.7 apg)
23 Will Garlock (7-0 Freshman Center, 1.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.8 apg)
Player to watch
Carrington had his second 20-point performance of the season on Tuesday, pouring in five three-pointers off the bench.

Gameday in Madtown 🏀
Badgers 🆚 Hawkeyes
⏰ 3 p.m.
📍 Kohl Center
📺 @FS1
🔗 https://t.co/J8C5gsKSjC pic.twitter.com/QsTtxWAJUf
— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) February 22, 2026

Iowa probable starters

3 Cam Manyawu (6-9 Junior Forward, 6.5 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 0.9 apg)
6 Tavion Banks (6-7 Senior Forward, 10.7 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.2 apg)
8 Cooper Koch (6-8 R-Freshman Forward, 6.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 1.0 apg)
11 Kael Combs (6-4 Junior Guard, 5.6 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.3 apg)
14 Bennett Stirtz (6-4 Senior Guard, 20.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 4.6 apg)
Off the bench
7 Alvaro Folgueiras (6-10 Junior Forward, 8.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.0 apg)
15 Brendan Hausen (6-4 Senior Guard, 4.4 ppg, 0.7 rpg, 0.5 apg)
23 Isaia Howard (6-5 Sophomore Guard, 5.8 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.2 apg)
24 Tate Sage (6-7 Freshman Guard, 6.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 0.8 apg)
Player to watch
Having started 122 consecutive games, Stirtz had registered at least 20 points in 15 games and six assists in nine games in his only season with the Hawkeyes.

Sunday Afternoon Hoops. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/2IidMlZONa
— Iowa Men’s Basketball (@IowaHoops) February 22, 2026

Series notes

The Badgers have won six of the last seven games, including a sweep of Iowa last season, winning 116-85 in Madison and 74-63 in Iowa City.

Wisconsin holds a 57-30 advantage in Madison, winning each of the last four and eight of the last 10 home meetings.

The Badgers are 17-5 all-time against the Hawkeyes at the Kohl Center, which opened in 1998. In last season's game at the Kohl Center, the Badgers had a Kohl Center record 116, matching the school's second-most points in a Big Ten game. Wisconsin went 21-for-31 (67.7%) from 3-point range, breaking the Big Ten record for 3FGs in a game (20).

In last season's meetings, John Blackwell scored 32 pts (6-10 3FGs) in Madison - most by any player vs. Iowa since at least 2004-05 - and 19 in the game at Iowa.

Wisconsin notes

The Badgers seek their 11th Big Ten win to clinch a winning conference record. UW has had a winning Big Ten record in 22 of the last 25 seasons. Since 2001-02 when Bo Ryan and Greg Gard arrived in Madison, UW is tied with MSU for the most Big Ten wins and win percentage.

The Badgers are averaging 83.1 points per game, which would be the third-best average in school history. UW has scored 80+ points in 16 of its 26 games this year and is 16-0 when scoring 80+ points.

Wisconsin is averaging 11.0 3-pointers per game, which ranks 10th in the country. UW is 15-2 this year when making 10+ 3FGs.

UW is ninth in the country in turnover percentage with a 13.2 percent clip. In 2026, UW is averaging only 8.1 turnovers per game.

Iowa notes

Iowa ranks 24th nationally in field goal percentage, shooting 49.5 percent. The team is also 23rd in effective field goal percentage (.568).

The Hawkeyes are allowing 64.4 points per game -- the fewest in the Big Ten and 10th-fewest nationally. Iowa has held seven opponents at 60 points or below this season - the most since the 2019-20 season. Iowa has held all but one opponent below its team's season scoring average on the year.

Iowa is 5-3 this season in games decided by six points or less. The team is 1-1 in games decided by a single possession this year.

Stirtz has a team-high 120 assists, averaging 4.6 per game, to rank seventh in the Big Ten. He has committed 50 turnovers in a team-high 955 minutes.

Prediction

Iowa cruised through its Pacific Northwest road trip relying on its offense. The Hawkeyes shot 59.3 percent (64-of-108) from the field and 46.3 percent (19-of-41) from 3-point range in wins over Oregon and Washington, scoring 84 points each game and winning both comfortably by double digits.

It's been a different story in the four games since. Iowa has scored more than 70 points once, shot better than 40 percent from the field twice, and not made more than 31 percent from three.

In the win over Nebraska, the Hawkeyes became the first unranked Big Ten team to defeat an AP Top 10 team while shooting under 34 percent since Minnesota a decade ago. Since the 2020-21 season, teams that shoot 33 percent or worse in a game are 3-245 against AP Top 10 opponents. Iowa shot 33.3 percent in the win over No. 9 Nebraska.

The Hawkeyes have split those four games with substandard offense because their defense has been solid. Part of the reason their scoring defense is so low is that Iowa is tops in the Big Ten in forcing turnovers (13.5 per game), third in the league in steals (7.2), and doesn't let teams get out and run.

Only seven opponents this season have scored 10 or more points in transition and the Hawkeyes allow just 6.3 fastbreak points per game.

UW is averaging 11.3 fast break points per game, which ranks fifth in the Big Ten this season, but it only managed five against the Buckeyes.

Iowa's offense can spark because of Stirtz, who is the heartbeat of the team and generates a lot of attention, which can open up opportunities for other weapons. Banks had a Division-1 career-high 26 points and eight rebounds at Indiana, Combs hit four three-pointers at Purdue, and Manyawu has nine career double-doubles.

The loss of Janicki hurts UW's bench and the rotation, so keeping Blackwell and Boyd out of foul trouble and on the court against Iowa's smaller lineup is key this afternoon.

UW let Ohio State get too comfortable and played passively on Tuesday, almost as if they were expecting to win handily over a team it had beaten three weeks earlier. I'd be surprised if UW played that way two games in a row.

Prediction: Wisconsin by eight
Worgull's Prediction: 19-7 (14-12 ATS)
Points off Prediction: 300 (11.5 ppg)