The word “game” can only be loosely applied to Northwestern’s 96-31 win over Chicago State on Monday night at Allstate Arena. This was an epic bludgeoning.

The Wildcats posted the largest margin of victory in school history in a contest that was over just a few minutes after tipoff. Northwestern jumped out to a 15-0 lead after Aaron Falzon drained his second 3-pointer of the game at the 16:20 mark and never looked back.

The lead ballooned like the national deficit until the Wildcats led 55-8 at the half. Yes, Chicago State scored eight points. The Cougars couldn’t reach double figures in the opening 20 minutes after shooting 2 for 19 from the floor and turning the ball over 15 times.

From there, things spiraled out of control as the only drama was waiting to see whether fan favorites Tino Malnati and Charlie Hall would score. Both of them got a shot off in the final minutes – Malnati tried a baseline reverse, while Hall attempted a wide-open 3-pointer – but neither one fell, disappointing the hundreds (not thousands) of fans in the stands.

Northwestern’s lead reached 50 points after yet another Falzon triple – he hit 4 of 8 – made it 61-11 at the 17:50 mark of the second half. The bulge reached a ridiculous 60 after Barret Benson canned his second free throw to make it 81-21 with 8:48 left.

It was a far cry from last season when the Cougars put a scare into Northwestern before the Wildcats escaped with a hard-fought 68-64 win.

Five Wildcats wound up in double figures this time around: Vic Law scored 18 points, Falzon 15, Dererk Pardon 13, Scottie Lindsey 12 and Anthony Gaines came off the bench to add 11. The only starter who didn’t reach double digits was Bryant McIntosh, who led the team with 7 assists to go along with 9 points.

Chicago State, meanwhile, couldn’t put a single player in double figures as Cameron Bowles led the team with 8 off the bench. The Cougars five starters, in fact, scored a grand total of 8 points.

Some of the numbers produced by this bloodletting were comical as Northwestern dominated all phases of the game. The Wildcats had a sizable edge in shooting (49.1 percent to 20), 3-pointers (12 to 1), free throws (30 to 14), rebounds (37 to 29), assists (20 to 5) and steals (10 to 3).

Chicago State dominated in one area: turnovers. The Cougars racked up 25 to Northwestern’s 10.

Ivanauskas out for season: There was some bad news to go along with the good on Monday as Northwestern announced that Rapolas Ivanauskas would miss the rest of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery.

The 6-foot-8 redshirt freshman forward from Barrington (Ill.) and New Hampshire's Brewster Academy missed all of last season with surgery on the same shoulder.

Ivanauskas played in three games this season, logging 11 minutes. He failed to score and pulled down three rebounds.