Northwestern crushed another Chicago opponent with a 92-54 win over UIC at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Tuesday night.

The game was close early, but the Wildcats put it away with a 27-10 run in the last 12 minutes of the first half to establish a secure 42-21 lead at the break. The monster run was fueled by sophomore forward Brooks Barnhizer, who poured in seven straight points to push Northwestern's lead to double digits, where it would stay the rest of the night.

Chase Audige led all scorers with 19, but Barnhizer was right behind him with a career-high 18. That doubled up his previous high-water mark, when he scored nine against Georgetown earlier this season.

"I'm really happy for Brooks," head coach Chris Collins said. "He was hurt last year, he never really got into the rotation, which was frustrating for him and I understood that.

"But to come back this year and be healthy, to show what he can do, to me it is just the beginning."

Speaking of high-water marks, with a 9-2 start Northwestern has matched the 2016-17 tournament team through 11 games.

It was a thorough win for Northwestern, which dominated just about every stat you can think of. Northwestern went 36-of-70 from the field, snared 44 rebounds and forced 21 turnovers. UIC went 17-of-44 from the field, grabbed 23 rebounds and forced only nine turnovers. Pick a stat, the Wildcats nearly doubled the Flames.

Here are our takeaways from Northwestern's blowout win over UIC:

With this win over UIC, Northwestern has moved to 9-2 for the first time since the last time they made the NCAA Tournament. After an ugly loss to Pittsburgh at home, many Wildcat fans likely groaned and thought, "Here we go again."

This was a roster that lost Pete Nance and Ryan Young as transfers and had gone five straight seasons below .500. Now, after four straight wins by an average of 32 points, head coach Chris Collins dismissed the idea that his team felt pressure or heard doubters before the season or now.

"We never looked into that doubt. I don't even know what doubt you're talking about because I don't look into that stuff," Collins said. "I saw we had five of our top seven guys coming back, I saw that we had two guards I thought could be one of the best backcourts in the Big Ten."

The Pittsburgh result looks more and more like a fluke with each passing game, and the Wildcats have been on a tear since then. Collins has made sure to keep his team from getting too high or too low throughout their 9-2 start.

"We've talked since Day One about eliminating noise," Collins said. "It's never as good as it seems, and it's never as bad as it seems...

"That's kind of been this team's mantra. Eliminate what's on the outside, let's focus on each other."

The test of whether Northwestern fans should start eyeing March will be a trio of Big Ten games to start 2023: Ohio State and No. 16 Illinois at home, then No. 18 Indiana on the road. Until then, credit Collins and this team for their best start in half a decade.

Northwestern hit another gear with ease to put away UIC, a feat seldom seen at Welsh-Ryan in past seasons. This team has built an identity around a suffocating defense that keeps them in games when their shots aren't falling, and puts them away when the offense finds a rhythm.

Big Ten play will be the true barometer of this season, but the Cats have put themselves on a path that had them playing in March the last time it was tread. That deserves recognition after many fans thought that this team would be dead on arrival this season.

Barnhizer had one of his best stretches in the purple and white against UIC, scoring seven straight points to break the game open in the first half. He drilled a three, then slashed through the lane for a pair of layups. He didn't stop there, finishing with a career-high 18 points to go with eight rebounds, five assists, a steal and a block.

For a player whose previous career high was nine, this was a stellar breakout performance.

"He and I spent some time yesterday," Collins said. "I just wanted him to relax, he's putting a lot of pressure on himself offensively.

"And you saw tonight, his skill package, it's so important to our growth as a team. He's very strong, he can score in the post, he can drive, he can make threes, he's an excellent passer. I think tonight was a full display of what he can be."

Barnhizer attributed his career night to an early make and the support of his teammates.

"It was really big to see that first three go in," he said. "Then it was my teammates cheering me on, letting me know I was making the right play, letting me know that I was playing well. We have a really close-knit group."

If the close-knit group can add Barnhizer to their scoring repertoire, they will be a force to be reckoned with.

When the Wildcats debuted their Chicago's Own senior-designed jerseys, many an eyebrow was raised at that proclamation from an Evanston team without a player native to the Windy City. Since then, they have beaten DePaul and UIC by a combined 80 points. Add in a 31-point win over Chicago State, and there is no doubt which team runs the city.

All three wins were expected: Chicago State and UIC are miles below a Big Ten team in terms of recruiting and expectations, and DePaul is in disarray. However, winning these games, making statements and proving city dominance is what good teams do. It probably won't lead to a regional surge in recruiting, a bump in notoriety or headline Northwestern's resume, but it doesn't hurt to flex some muscle. Chip in a 17-point win over Northern Illinois and Northwestern's bid for state supremacy becomes even stronger. (Why isn't Loyola on the schedule?)

The ultimate obstacles of that bid are still to come: a highly anticipated matchup with No. 16 Illinois at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Jan. 4, and then a rubber match in Champaign on Feb. 23.

Until then, Collins was glad to play some regional rivals and opponents, and to build ties between Illinois teams.

"I grew up in this area, I'm a big fan of Chicago basketball," Collins said. "I think it's great for the city."

Collins has almost always kept a true center -- Matt Nicholson, Tydus Verhoeven or Luke Hunger -- on the floor this season. But he gave Northwestern fans a quick taste of a small-ball lineup that left me and a lot of fans intrigued: Boo Buie, Ty Berry, Audige, Julian Roper II and Robbie Beran. They played for about a minute at the end of the first half, but the flexibility, athleticism and spacing present in that five were intriguing to say the least.

Collins was quick to laud his dynamic center duo of Nicholson and Verhoeven, but he acknowledged that the team has practiced with this small-ball lineup and will use it situationally.

"We have practiced that lineup," Collins said. "I think it's something especially at the end of games when you need to take care of the ball, make free throws...

"There's absolutely a package that we have for that small team and depending on how the game is going, if we want to speed it up, if we want to switch or open the floor with more skill guys, it's definitely something that you could see."