The 2025–26 Northern Iowa Panthers men's basketball team represented 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, played their home games at the McLeod Center located in Cedar Falls, Iowa as members of the Missouri Valley Conference. The Panthers finished the season 23–13, 11–9 in MVC play to finish in a tie for sixth place. As the No. 6 seed in the MVC tournament, they defeated Evansville, Illinois State, Bradley, and UIC to win the tournament championship. As a result, the received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, their first since 2016, as the No. 12 seed in the East region. There they lost to St. John's.
On March 30, 2026, head coach Ben Jacobsen left the school after 20 seasons to take the head coaching position at Utah State. On April 1, the school named Iowa State assistant coach Kyle Green the team's new head coach. Green had previously been an assistant under Jacobsen for three different stints.
Previous season The Panthers finished the 2024–25 season 20–13, 14–6 in MVC play to finish in third place. They were upset in the quarterfinals of the MVC tournament by Valparaiso. They received an at-large berth to the National Invitation Tournament where they lost to SMU in the first round.
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=""|Exhibition season
!colspan=12 style=""|Regular season
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Source
References