IOWA CITY — More details about Iowa men’s basketball’s schedule have surfaced as the 2026-27 slate continues to take shape.
More puzzle pieces still need to be revealed, but here’s what we know about the Hawkeyes’ schedule as of June 16. Some of this information was obtained through open-records requests by the Register.
The non-conference
The Hawkeyes will get a pair of Big East opponents in less than a week in November, neither of which will be at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The first comes at Casey’s Center, where Iowa will face a Creighton team in its first season under new head coach Alan Huss. A few days later, Iowa goes on the road in what should be a hostile environment at Xavier. Iowa did not play its first true road game until Dec. 2 last season. That will come earlier in the calendar this season.
The pair of games against Creighton and Xavier should provide clues about where the Hawkeyes stand in their development early in the season.
Iowa’s rivalry matchup with Iowa State comes on Dec. 10 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes are looking for their first win in the series since 2022 as the Cyclones have won the last three matchups. Iowa State has significant production to replace after losing last season’s top three scorers in Milan Momcilovic, Joshua Jefferson and Tamin Lipsey.
The Hawkeyes are scheduled to play lower-profile opponents in Eastern Illinois and South Dakota. Eastern Illinois might bring back a bad memory for Hawkeye fans. In 2022, the Panthers pulled off a shocking upset over Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa will look to take care of business this time around.
The Hawkeyes have three confirmed high-major non-conference opponents on their 2026-27 schedule, but there is still room for that number to increase.
“You probably want to play enough of the buy games to build your confidence and to get more bodies in,” coach Ben McCollum said on Dec. 27. “So, you don’t want to eliminate those because you can play your depth. But we want to play more power-conference teams next year than we did this year — (that’s) our goal. It doesn’t always happen that way, but that would be the objective.”
You might have noticed that Drake and Northern Iowa are still not on Iowa’s non-conference schedule. McCollum addressed that topic at his introductory press conference in 2025.
“I would say scheduling-wise, you want to put yourself in the best position, one, to have your team be at their best in March,” McCollum said. “So that specific team, if they need to play a top-tier team, then you schedule that. If you need to play a bunch of teams that are not quite as good to build confidence, then you do that. So you schedule with that in mind first.”
He continued: “The second part of that is you need to schedule to make the NCAA Tournament. So obviously there’s the NET rankings, and there’s a lot of mathematics that go into that. Obviously, you beat a bunch of Quad 4s by a lot of points. Going on the road versus a Quad 3 or Quad 2 doesn’t make a lot of sense just from an analytic standpoint to be able to make that NCAA Tournament.”
McCollum did not definitively close the door to scheduling Drake or UNI at some point, but he also did not promise it would happen.
“Specific to Drake or UNI, good question,” McCollum said. “I don’t know on that. It probably depends on if that allows us to make the NCAA Tournament better. Now, there are some unique situations that you will play, just because it’s fun for the fans, and that might be number three as well. I’m not afraid of those, either.”
The Big Ten schedule
At first glance, Iowa’s Big Ten road schedule looks like a challenge.
The Hawkeyes will travel to intense atmospheres at Illinois, Purdue and Nebraska. Iowa also will get reigning national champion Michigan on the road. Not to mention that Iowa’s West Coast trip has the potential to be a more difficult pairing of UCLA and USC compared to its Pacific Northwest swing against struggling Oregon and Washington last season. Add Wisconsin and Ohio State into the mix, and it has the potential to be a difficult road slate.
Michigan State, Nebraska and Wisconsin are among the immediate highlights on the home schedule. Pryce Sandfort will return to Carver-Hawkeye Arena again as a member of the Cornhuskers. It’s tricky to project exactly where teams will fall in the Big Ten standings next season, so it’s possible that another team could emerge as a more attractive home matchup, such as Indiana or Ohio State.
Iowa didn’t get the easiest draw of double-play Big Ten opponents. While their rosters will not look entirely the same, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Ohio State all made the NCAA Tournament last season.
Game dates, times and television information will be announced at a later time.
Follow Tyler Tachman on X @Tyler_T15, contact via email at TTachman@usatodayco.com
This article originally appeared on Hawk Central: What we know about Iowa men’s basketball’s 2026-27 schedule so far
Reporting by Tyler Tachman, Des Moines Register / Hawk Central
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By Tyler Tachman, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
