Wisconsin Badgers guard Jack Janicki out for the foreseeable future with wrist injury
Wisconsin guard Jack Janicki will miss significant time with a wrist injury. Here’s how the Badgers plan to replace his defensive spark.
The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team (18-8, 10-5 Big Ten) is going to have to adjust the rotation on the fly.
Greg Gard confirmed that redshirt sophomore guard Jack Janicki suffered a broken wrist in the 86-69 loss at Ohio State and underwent surgery earlier this week. The timeline is uncertain, and the language was telling.
“He’s going to be out for the foreseeable future,” Gard said. “I don’t know when he’ll be back. He had surgery, so he’s got a recovery process in front of him. He’ll be out for a while. We were able to repair some things, and he’ll be out for a while. We’ll see if he’ll be back, but we don’t know.”
Janicki, a 6-foot-5 guard from White Bear Lake, Minnesota, has appeared in 26 games this season, including one start. He is averaging 2.2 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 16.5 minutes per game while shooting 32.3% from the field, 27.7% from three, and 60% from the free-throw line.
The offensive numbers will not jump off the page.
According to BartTorvik.com, Janicki carried a minus-0.1 PRPG rating, largely due to an offensive rating of 98.8. But he was a very low-usage player, and that was by design. What he gave Wisconsin was defensive reliability, positional versatility, and effort that the staff trusted.
“One advantage Jack had was that he’s got three years under his belt,” Gard said. “He understands a lot of what we do, specifically defensively.”
That spark off the bench matters, especially for a team entering the final stretch of the regular season and has NCAA Tournament aspirations.
“I don’t know,” Gard said when asked whether there’s hope Janicki could return before the end of the season. “If it is, it’ll be a while. I don’t foresee him back at all in the regular season. It’ll be after that if it happens at all.”
So, how does Wisconsin replace him?
It will not fall on just one player. Freshman Hayden Jones is the next guard in line off the bench for Wisconsin. The 6-foot-6 wing from New Zealand has appeared in 19 games, averaging 1.9 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 0.4 assists in 7.2 minutes per contest. Jones is shooting an efficient 63.2% from the floor, though just 52.4% from the free-throw line.
Jones stepped in during the second half at Ohio State and finished with six points and four rebounds, including three on the offensive glass, and an assist. The staff trusts his defensive instincts and length, and at his size, he offers a slightly different look in smaller, guard-heavy rotations.
“[Jones] did a good job in the second half the other night, and now he’ll have an opportunity for more,” Gard explained. “It just falls in line with what I tell them all the time: Stay ready, so you don’t have to get ready.”
Zach Kinziger, who had his redshirt pulled earlier this season, provides 3-point shooting and secondary ball-handling — and might be a candidate to mix in more often when lineups allow for it. Braeden Carrington, who has been terrific off the bench, will likely see additional opportunities as well. Carrington’s energy and scoring punch become even more valuable.
Janicki was not a focal point by and stretch of the imagination. But he was a connector. A defensive tone-setter. A player whom coaches trusted.
Replacing that spark will require the starters to continue carrying the offensive load. At the same time, reserve guards like Carrington, Jones, and Kinziger need to do their part when their number is called — and for the team to continue growing and communicating on the defensive end.
And with just five regular-season games remaining, this is where the margins start to matter more. Seeding is on the line. Momentum is on the line. The version of this team that shows up over the next handful of weeks is likely the version we’ll see in March. Small tweaks to the rotation now can become defining factors in postseason play. That’s the reality.
How Wisconsin absorbs the loss of Janicki, how the minutes redistribute, and how connected this group stays defensively will quietly shape what the month ahead looks like. March doesn’t usually hinge on one moment. It hinges on how programs handle the subtle shifts before you get there.
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