For the next month-and-a-half the Wisconsin basketball team will be without their starter at arguably the most important position in basketball.
It was announced Monday that UW starting senior point guard Traevon Jackson has a fractured right foot and will require surgery after suffering the injury in the Badgers’ 67-62 upset loss to Rutgers Sunday.
Jackson will have surgery Thursday and is expected to miss about six weeks. He will begin rehabbing the injury in approximately 2-3 weeks.
“I’m just trying to enjoy the process, learn from this and trust in Christ,” Jackson said in a statement from UW Athletics. “I know my teammates will come together and be stronger because of this. I’m looking forward to coming back mentally stronger than ever and more prepared to win championships and finish off the year and the seniors’ careers the right way.”
Through 17 games this season, Jackson is averaging 9.4 points and a team-leading 2.9 assists per game for the Badgers. The senior is also shooting 45.6 percent from the field and 85.4 percent from the free throw line. Jackson had started the last 84 games for the Badgers.
As a result of the injury, it is expected that sophomore guard Bronson Koenig will take Jackson’s spot in the starting lineup. Koenig made his first career start Sunday after senior forward Frank Kaminsky was ruled out with concussion-like symptoms. The sophomore scored 12 points and recorded 3 assists in the start.
Koenig is averaging 4.9 points and 2.1 assists while playing 20.5 minutes per game off the bench for the Badgers this season. Koenig brings a skill-set that includes great, flashy passing and a deadly pull-up jump shot, but also one that lacks the quickness and ability to get to the basket that Jackson had.
While the injury will guarantee an increase in minutes for Koenig, it will go beyond that, as the Badgers are already a team that goes no more than eight deep on a normal night. Head coach Bo Ryan will most likely look at redshirt sophomore guard Zak Showalter, who has seen the court in just 13 of Wisconsin’s 17 games, to log more minutes and redshirt senior guard Josh Gasser to run Wisconsin’s swing offense when Koenig is on the bench.
The Badgers will get the first chance to test out their new lineup without Jackson Thursday when they play host to Nebraska at the Kohl Center.
