EVANSTON — Northwestern has run into trouble at times this season when it comes to holding onto leads in the second half.

There was no such trouble Sunday night.

The Wildcats built double-digit leads in the first half and led by 12 at halftime and watched that lead grow so much bigger as they pulled away from the visiting Iowa Hawkeyes in an 89-54 blowout win at Welsh-Ryan Arena, the largest margin of victory Northwestern has ever had against Iowa.

Northwestern was on fire shooting the ball for much of this one, following up 54.3-percent clip in the first half with a scorching 66.7-percent mark after halftime. The Cats bombed in 11 3-pointers and had huge statistical advantages in rebounds (39-24), points off turnovers (16-6), points in the paint (42-18) and fast-break points (18-9).

The key stretch in the first half came after Iowa whittled a double-digit gap down to three points, with Northwestern exploding on a 14-1 run that featured 3-pointers from Gavin Skelly and Isiah Brown and saw highlight-reel fast-break passes by Vic Law and Bryant McIntosh for two-point finishes. That stretch put the Cats ahead by 16, and they carried a 12-point edge into halftime.

But the second half was even more dominant and more explosive. A fast start put the Cats up by 18, but a Hawkeye run chopped things down to single digits on a Nicholas Baer 3. Northwestern answered once more, though, with Dererk Pardon dunking and Sanjay Lumpkin, Scottie Lindsey, McIntosh and Law knocking down 3s on four consecutive trips down the floor to push the lead to 20. The advantage grew to 26 after Lindsey combined a 3 with a steal and a breakaway dunk and ratcheted above 30 not too long after.

At one point, things looked like this in the running box score:

The Cats finished shooting a sensational 59.7 percent from the field, getting huge days all around. Lindsey led all scorers with 22 points to go along with eight rebounds and five assists. McIntosh had a double-double with 20 points and 10 assists, more than a few of the highlight-reel variety. Pardon finished with 14 points and nine rebounds, and Law scored 12 points.

Perhaps most impressive of all was the defensive job Northwestern did on Iowa star Peter Jok, one of the top-10 scorers in the country. He scored just four points in the game.

The win boosted Northwestern to 15-4 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten. Next up is a trip to Ohio State next weekend.

The loss dropped Iowa to 11-8 overall and 3-3 in the conference. The Hawkeyes next play Maryland later this week.