Wisconsin Basketball Guard Undergoes Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery

Wisconsin basketball has already sustained a season-ending injury before the team's first preseason exhibition game.

UW Stats and Info announced Tuesday afternoon that freshman guard Josh Manchester is out for the entirety of the 2026-27 season after undergoing successful shoulder surgery. According to Wisconsin, Manchester sustained the injury in practice last week.

Update from @BadgerMBB:

Wisconsin freshman guard Josh Manchester sustained a shoulder injury in practice last week. Manchester had a successful surgery, but will miss the upcoming season. pic.twitter.com/ZfGBTCPxy9
— UW Stats & Info (@UWStatsInfo) October 6, 2026

Manchester, who signed with Wisconsin back in April out of Mount Horeb High School and Team Herro in the EYBL, was a late addition to the Badgers' 2026-27 roster. He's the second American high school freshman joining the team this season alongside LaTrevion Fenderson out of Racine, and one of four first-year players on the roster overall in addition to international signings Jackson Ball and Isaac Riddle.

Wisconsin is now down to 13 active and available players for the 2026-27 season, with the status of the potential 14th, fifth-year returnee Braeden Carrington, still up in the air.

What Manchester's injury means for Wisconsin basketball

The Badgers have a deep, less top-heavy rotation this season. Still, the freshman Manchester wasn't expected to play, despite the fact that several Badgers have called him the best shooter on the team already.

Wisconsin is certainly excited about what the local product, whose high school in Mount Horeb is a half hour drive from the Kohl Center, can bring to the table down the line. He hit the 2,000-point mark in his high school career, and in his senior season at Mount Horeb, he averaged 24.1 points per game while knocking down 41% of his shots from distance. Wisconsin has targeted gifted scorers in the backcourt as of late, and Manchester certainly fits that description.

Still, it's worth noting that Manchester was the Badgers' Plan B on the recruiting trail after they lost out on Wisconsin Mr. Basketball wing Zavier Zens, who committed to Illinois in April less than a week before Wisconsin signed Manchester.

Thus, while this injury could hurt Manchester's development, I don't see it hurting Wisconsin's backcourt depth this season.

Projecting guard depth in 2026-27

Here's how I see the Badgers' backcourt depth chart as we sit here just under a month out from tip-off:

Point Guard	Shooting Guard	Wing
Owen Foxwell	Trey Autry	Eian Elmer
Zach Kinziger	Jackson Ball	Hayden Jones
	Jack Janicki	LaTrevion Fenderson

Again, Manchester wasn't necessarily close to cracking the rotation. I imagine he'd be the sixth guard off the bench behind Kinziger, Ball, Jones, Janicki and Fenderson. Wisconsin has some intriguing depth, but none of it is very experienced in the Big Ten; it'll be fascinating to see how the Badgers' backcourt fares this season after losing two superstars in Nick Boyd and John Blackwell.

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