With seven minutes remaining in the first half and the Wisconsin men’s basketball team up 25-8, the Badgers were in complete control of the game and there didn’t appear to be anything Northwestern could do to stop them.

The Wildcats had been almost exclusively in a 2-3 zone, a defensive set UW has seen from plenty of opponents this season, in Wisconsin’s run to open the half. The Badgers’ precision passing, hot shooting and familiarity with the defense allowed them to pick apart the zone defense and jump out to a big lead.

Then sophomore guard Bronson Koenig got his second foul of the first half and had to sit on the bench for the final seven minutes of the period.

With Koenig on the bench, the Wildcats took advantage and went on an 11-2 run over the next four minutes of the half.

Wisconsin’s lead had fallen from 17 points to eight with four minutes remaining in the half, and while not having Koenig on the floor definitely hurt the Badgers as UW had a 53-31 advantage with him on the floor, the team didn’t look at it as an excuse.

“You’re down a guy with experience, more so than say Zak Showalter,” head coach Bo Ryan said. “We also had some opportunities while they cut into that edge that we had, so you can’t say it was simply because Bronson went out of the game.”

A similar situation occurred in Wisconsin’s last game against Indiana. There were multiple occasions where the Badgers had built a big lead and then backed off, allowing the Hoosiers back in the game.

The Hoosiers’ runs served as the wake-up call Wisconsin needed to put the game away, and Northwestern’s first-half run served a similar purpose Saturday.

Following a timeout late in the first half, and with Koenig still on the bench in foul trouble, Wisconsin ended the period on a 12-4 run that gave the Badgers a 37-21 lead going into the locker room.

While Wisconsin went to the locker room with a comfortable 16-point halftime lead, the Badgers were not content with the way they let Northwestern back into the game.

It appeared that the Wildcats’ 2-3 zone started to bother the Badgers and disrupt their offensive rhythm. Wisconsin started to uncharacteristically settle for long jump shots and struggled to score as a result.

“I think we got away from our principles a little bit,” junior forward Sam Dekker said.

Wisconsin may have become too content with their 17-point lead and lost focus, but that is something the team is trying to improve.

“When you get a lead like that, sometimes it can slip away from you a little bit, and that’s something we are working on and trying to get better at,” redshirt senior guard Josh Gasser said. “We know once tournament time starts, you can’t slip up on any possession.”

If Wisconsin had not countered Northwestern’s run with one of their own, the Badgers may have found themselves in a dangerous situation at home.

The 12-4 run to end the half ended up being the difference in the game for Wisconsin, giving the Badgers a big enough cushion going into the second half where they were able to get away with a subpar performance.

UW shot 9-25 (36 percent) from the field and 5-16 (31.3 percent) from three-point range in the second half, while Northwestern shot 10-20 (50 percent) from the field and 3-8 (37.5 percent) from three. Northwestern also outscored Wisconsin in the second half 29-28.

“It was not our greatest [shooting] percentage,” Ryan said. “[Northwestern] did a good job of taking some things away, but we were patient.”

“I like the way we shortened the clock,” Ryan added. “We at least made them work in the zone.”

In the end, two things became clear about Ryan’s team after Saturday’s game.

His team is capable of bouncing back even if it has lost all the momentum, and just as Koenig did when senior guard Traevon Jackson went down with his injury, there is going to be a viable next man up.

“You always have to believe that the other five guys you got on the floor can play,” Ryan said. “If you have doubt, you’re in trouble.”