EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern staved off an upset bid by UIC and picked up an 83-74 win to get back above .500 on Tuesday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

The Wildcats took a 31-29 lead into halftime and steadily built their lead, never trailing in the second half -- though the Flames cut the lead down to four with 1:35 left after some success with their press.

Forward Nick Martinelli continued his scorching start with 27 points on incredible efficiency: 10-for-14 from the floor and 2-for-2 from 3, where he's yet to miss this season

"I'd be hard-pressed to see anyone across the country that's playing better...," head coach Chris Collins said. "He's a matchup nightmare. I'm glad he's on my team."

UIC head coach Rob Ehsan called Martinelli one of the best players in the country but was respectfully incredulous after seeing his level of success, especially from beyond the arc.

"Coming into this game he was 5-for-5," Ehsan said. "I don't care if it's Steph Curry, at some point the law of averages is going to shake out and for him to hit both, and one he hit was really timely, I was like ugh.

"It's impressive. He's a matchup problem because of the way he plays, he doesn't miss easy shots, as simple as that sounds... Credit to him. He's had an amazing start to the season."

Martinelli's only Achilles heel appears to be free throws, where he was 5-for-10, contributing to a team-wide struggle that saw the Wildcats hit just 22-for-33 at the charity stripe.

Still, they were able to overcome a few of their self-inflicted wounds and pull off a solid win over a UIC team that has shown real signs of promise under Ehsan and had just beaten Yale.

Here are our takeaways from Northwestern's home win over UIC that improved their record to 2-1:

Veterans answer the bell after Dayton: After a miserable game under the fire of Dayton's press, Jalen Leach, who scored just seven points against the Flyers, and Ty Berry, who was held scoreless, combined for 29 points against UIC.

Leach was rung up for three first-half fouls but Collins trusted his grad transfer to start the second and it paid off as he poured in 14 points.

Berry is still shaking off the rust from a late-season meniscus injury in 2023-24. Collins said he was cleared to play just two weeks before the season's start, but he scored a season-high 13 points against the Flames, forced three steals and was second-best on the team with a +15 plus/minus rating in 28 minutes.

The best plus/minus mark went to big man Matt Nicholson, who was +16 in 19 minutes and started the game off with a thunderous slam. He finished with just six points and three rebounds, but added three blocks to show that he, too, is on the right path after a season-ending injury late in 2023-24.

It still wasn't perfect. Berry was 3-for-9 from the floor with two confounding turnovers. Nicholson picked up four fouls and his playing time was limited. But the trio that was borderline invisible at Dayton showed up and did it in force down the stretch to pick up another win while Brooks Barnhizer, their team's best player remains out.

Collins said the encouraging trend will only improve with Barnhizer's return and Martinelli's ascension.

"Once we can get Brooks back, you have those two guys out there, they're going to make everyone better," Collins said. "We just have to hold down the fort until we can be healthy."

Press break, second-half defense plagued the Wildcats: While Leach, Berry and Nicholson exorcised some of their Dayton demons, two others lingered: UIC got back into the game by employing a press defense, and the Wildcats' defense again surrendered more than 40 points in the second half.

UIC was able to get under Northwestern's skin and get the lead down to four late in the game by employing a trapping press. It was different than Dayton's full-court, man-to-man press, but Ehsan was clear that the Flyers' success was part of his inspiration.

"It's not something we hang our hat on, but it's something we've practiced, and hopefully working it in early this season can hopefully give our guys some confidence in it," he said. "We really tried to sped them up. Dayton pressed them the whole game and had some success with it. I thought for a minute there it helped us get back in the game."

The Wildcats want to get Barnhizer, a reliable ball handler and surefire decision-maker, back from injury before sounding any alarm bells. But it's troubling that a borderline back-of-the-napkin press from UIC could throw the Wildcats so off-kilter.

The other troubling trend was a second-half defensive implosion. Dayton scored 47 in the second period against the Wildcats, and UIC nearly matched it with 45.

"We have to shore up our second-half defense," Collins said. "This happens a lot, is when we play defense in the first half we're in front of our bench and we talk them through the schemes...

"In the second half, [the Wildcats were not in front of their bench, so] it's just those five guys [and not the coaches]. We've had two games in a row where that's too many [points]... We have to shore that up, but it's Game 3. It's always good to learn when you still have time to find ways to win."

It helped that this time around the Wildcats matched the output, dropping 52 points of their own in the second frame.

"We talked in the locker room, we were super fired up," Martinelli said. "Brooks gave a great speech about how we have to play every game like it's your last."

Martinelli's tear to start the season combined with a resurgent veteran core was enough to give the Wildcats the edge, but they can't count on outscoring the opponent or Barnhizer to give a fiery pep talk every night. Even when he returns, they have to find ways to be consistent over the full course of the game.

Chicago-area tournament floated once more: Per usual, as Northwestern plays a few area schools like UIC, Eastern Illinois and DePaul, interest grows for an early season, Chicago-area tournament.

"It'd be great to play in some kind of classic...," Ehsan said. "Loyola, DePaul, [UIC], Northwestern... If we did it in the right venue you could probably get an amazing environment."

Collins echoed the sentiment, saying he'd have interest with so many Chicago teams on the rise, including DePaul, which recently hired his friend, Chris Holtmann. But he also made sure to use his coaching veteran status to remind people of the scheduling difficulties at hand.

"What happens is the scheduling piece is a tough dynamic," he said. "So it does interest me. I think it could be a good thing. I know they were doing it in Indiana, but that's been disbanded because scheduling is really hard...

"Everybody is trying to put together the schedule that fits them. We try to do a good job every year of playing in-state teams... In theory, it's a really good idea, it's just how do you put it together and when do you play it?"

There's also, for now, the frank issue of competitive balance. The Wildcats have taken to scheduling more aggressive Thanksgiving tournaments that can possibly put a feather in their cap come NCAA Tournament time. They played Rhode Island and Mississippi State last season, and Liberty and Auburn the year before. Butler is on the schedule this season, with a chance to play Mississippi State or UNLV afterwards.

Ehsan has UIC on a very strong trajectory, and Holtmann could resurrect the Blue Demons. But Loyola hasn't made the tournament since 2022. DePaul and UIC haven't since 2004. There's always going to be buzz and excitement, but I think the reality is unfortunately still pretty far away.

Freshmen are not without growing pains: After two very strong games to start their careers, KJ Windham and Angelo Ciaravino finally looked like freshmen against the Flames.

Windham was 0-for-6 from the floor and Ciaravino picked up a dead-ball foul with UIC in the bonus.

"You have to be smarter as a young guy," Collins said. "We talked after, and I asked, did he even know we were in the bonus? And he said no. And that's part of growth. You can only learn by going through it.

"We've always played our young guys, that's our program's DNA. That's why these other guys are good players when they're older."

Windham started and played 28 minutes, while Ciaravino played 14. Collins will stay true to his word, so don't expect any punitive damages to those minutes -- though there's an off-chance that Ciaravino becomes pure depth with the return of Barnhizer.

It was never going to be purely smooth sailing for the two freshmen; progress typically follows an up-and-down, but not a direct path. Expect the Class of 2024 duo to bounce back later this week against Eastern Illinois, or soon thereafter.