Northwestern barnstormed into the Twin Cities and picked up a statement win, 75-63, over Minnesota on Tuesday night.

The Wildcats were fueled by a masterpiece from Nick Martinelli, who scored 29 points, a career-high in Big Ten play for the Big Ten's current leading scorer, despite playing with a sprained ankle he suffered last week at Ohio State.

It wasn't just the Martinelli show, though. After just five assists as a team in the win in Columbus, Northwestern more than quadrupled that mark at Minnesota and dished out 21. Eight different Wildcats made a field goal and six different players chipped in six or more points, including Luke Hunger and KJ Windham, who came off the bench to score eight points apiece.

Minnesota's candidate for the Big Ten scoring title, Dawson Garcia, put on a show of his own, with 26 points and nine rebounds in a losing effort, but the Gophers weren't able to overcome two big punches from Northwestern to open each half. The Wildcats never trailed after opening up a 10-0 lead to start the game, and after taking a 36-31 lead into halftime, they never allowed the Gophers within five points the rest of the game.

In a shocking turn, after losing their first eight road games, including their first seven in conference play, the Wildcats have now won back-to-back games away from Welsh-Ryan Arena by double digits.

Here are our takeaways from Northwestern's dominant trip to Minnesota that improved their record to 15-13 overall and 6-11 in the Big Ten.

Martinelli won the battle and the war vs. Garcia: Fans at Williams Arena were treated to a battle between two of the conference's premier scorers. Martinelli and Garcia combined for 54 points (and two assists).

Both stars guarded each other to start off the night, though the Gophers cycled through a few different options as Martinelli poured it on in the second half. The final stat lines were similar, but this game proved that Martinelli, even as a junior, is a class above Garcia as a scorer -- and a winner.

Garcia converted an and-1 with 11:10 remaining in the game, cutting Northwestern's lead to 53-45. Martinelli played just 14 minutes of the first half due to foul trouble and proved he had plenty left in the tank down the stretch.

In the next 3:51, Martinelli scored 13 of Northwestern's 14 points. Garcia had a dunk and center Matt Nicholson split two free throws, but otherwise the star forward became a one-man army to put Minnesota away.

When the dust cleared, the Wildcats led 64-47 with 7:05 left, and Martinelli strode to the bench to dap up Brooks Barnhizer, with a defeated Minnesota team in his wake.

Martinelli would score just two more points, while Garcia frantically cobbled together another eight, but the statement was made. The Gophers never got within eight points again.

Northwestern is still caught in the bottom of the Big Ten standings at 6-11 in the league, which can hurt a player's awards resume. But after a performance like that, it's difficult to imagine that Martinelli won't be named first-team All-Big Ten.

Hunger the latest midseason reclamation project: For better or for worse, head coach Chris Collins has made an art form of wringing a suddenly solid performance from a player previously consigned to a reserve role. In fact, six of the nine players in the rotation tonight had previously been benched for full games at Collins' discretion.

With 7-footers Nicholson and Keenan Fitzmorris struggling to stay with Minnesota's speed and strength, plus some early foul trouble for Martinelli, Collins went to Hunger off the bench. Hunger had a rocky start to the season and fell out of the rotation almost completely after spraining his foot against Purdue. His nominal return was against Indiana on Jan. 22, but he came into this game averaging four minutes per game, appearing in just five of nine possible games.

Tonight, all was forgotten and he played 17 minutes, scoring eight points, grabbing four rebounds, dishing out two assists and acquitting himself admirably guarding Garcia. He provided invaluable rest to Martinelli, a crucial boost to the scoring effort and key versatility to stay in front of Garcia and Parker Fox.

Hunger stayed ready and delivered when Northwestern needed him most this season.

Windham showed true point guard skills: Windham was part of the platoon of scorers with eight points, but the more impressive stat is his seven assists. The freshman has shown plenty of scoring promise with 20 points at Oregon and 15 at Ohio State, but he displayed something much more important in the long run by running Northwestern's offense down the stretch.

There are still some things to clean up: Windham had three turnovers, though he got them back in the scheme of things with three steals.

Collins talked after the disappointing Nebraska loss about the necessity of getting his young guards their minutes; he talked after the dominant Ohio State win about Windham growing up and coming into his own as a player. Against the Gophers, Windham was not only a scorer, but a true operator of the offense as well.

Windham's potential remains incredibly high, and he added a key facet to his future by showcasing his ballhandling and distributing abilities at Minnesota.

Northwestern's season has been resurrected on the road: The Wildcats have seemingly reversed their ignominious trajectory out of the Big Ten Tournament and have put themselves back into the conference's Top 15 with two road wins in authoritative fashion. Northwestern is tied for 15th with Minnesota and now holds the valuable head-to-head tiebreaker so that if the season ended today, they'd be heading to Indianapolis.

Ironically, although they have lost to 17th-place Penn State and 18th-place Washington, their tiebreaker outlook ahead is either rosy or nearly in their control. A half-game ahead of NU and Minnesota are Iowa and USC at 6-10. NU has the tiebreaker on USC, and, although they lost at Iowa earlier this season, can split the season series in their home game on Friday night.

The second tiebreaker is head-to-head record against the top teams in the league. Both Northwestern and Iowa are winless against Michigan and Michigan State, but NU has a win over Maryland. Assuming Iowa loses to No. 8 Michigan State next week, the Wildcats would pick up that tiebreaker with a win in their direct matchup with the Hawkeyes.

Any further prognostication for the Big Ten becomes a labyrinth but after the winless West Coast swing and the blown lead to Nebraska, the sky seemed to be falling just a little over a week ago. Instead, the Wildcats have gotten off the mat, pulled what pieces they have together and found some late-season magic to enthrall their fans once more.