INDIANAPOLIS — Jeremy Fears Jr. waved his hands up and down several times to rev up the decidedly pro-Michigan State crowd Friday afternoon at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The Spartans redshirt freshman called for fans’ energy after he drove to the lane and hit a pullup jumper for an 8-0 lead against Oregon as the shot clock winded down early in the game. He did it again when Jaden Akins turned a steal into a dunk.
Fears’ participation in the Big Ten Tournament last season for Michigan State was confined to warming up with teammates and then watching from the sidelines as he recovered from surgery on a gunshot wound in his left thigh.
So for the Joliet native to be back a year later, serving as one of the driving forces in top-seeded Michigan State’s 74-64 quarterfinal win over Oregon was something to be grateful for, he said. And he tried to show that on the court.
“I try to be a leader, one of the emotional ones, like loud,” Fears said. “I’ll get on my teammate; they’ll get on me. At the end of the day, I try to bring the energy. No matter whether it’s going good or bad, I just try to bring the energy to help someone else or pick someone else up.”
Coach Tom Izzo declared Friday’s game one of Fears’ best of the season as the point guard totaled 11 points and five assists and helped hold Oregon guard Jackson Shelstad to eight points. Izzo thought Fears made an even bigger impact in ways unseen to the crowd.
“He was better in the huddles than he was on the court,” Izzo said. “And that hasn’t always been the case. He was upbeat. He was telling me things that I know worked. He was telling the players things. He led like he should lead, and I think that was as big a difference as his defense and his scoring.”
It has been a long journey for Fears to get there. And he’s still not entirely where he and Izzo would like him to be after the moment that changed the course of his freshman season while he was home during winter break in late December 2023.
According to the Joliet Police Department at the time, Fears and a 19-year-old woman were wounded when an unknown gunman entered through the front door of a home where friends were gathered, opened fire and fled. Fears, who said police never caught the suspect, was shot in the left thigh and required surgery to remove the bullet.
Fears, who played at Joliet West, was 12 games into his Michigan State freshman season, during which he averaged 3.5 points and 3.3 assists in 15.3 minutes. Suddenly, he felt like his basketball future was in question.
“Kind of scared, nervous a little,” Fears said. “Really the main thing was just hoping I would be able to play basketball again. But the doctors really helped me with that. They said, ‘It will be fine. You’ll be able to make a full recovery, no problems.’ That was really big for me. Just the fact that I was able to hear that helped me so much.”
Fears returned to East Lansing, Mich., and dived into recovery with athletic trainer Nick Richey and director of athletic performance Lorenzo Guess. At first, it was just weightlifting and mobility work. By March, he was back to warming up with his teammates on the court. And by June, he started to believe he would be OK as he started to play with contact.
When Michigan State opened its season against Monmouth on Nov. 4, Fears started and played 21 minutes, finishing with three points and eight assists. He has started 31 games at point guard during the Spartans’ Big Ten championship season.
Not all of it has gone as well as Friday as he worked his way back. At first, the game didn’t feel the same. But month by month, he feels like he has made progress. He scored a career-high 14 points at Iowa on March 6.
“Just the movements, the game speed and just college (basketball) in general,” Fears said of the challenges. “I really wasn’t playing a lot as a freshman, so it’s not like I can just jump back into it and do what I used to do. So it definitely took some time.”
As part of a talented backcourt that includes Akins, Jase Richardson and Tre Holloman, Fears is averaging 7.2 points and 5.5 assists in 23.1 minutes per game.
Izzo said it has been challenging for both of them as Fears works to make up for lost time.
“It’s a rough season for Jeremy because he’s a super competitive kid,” Izzo said. “And just because he’s 95% healthy, he didn’t make up for the eight months he missed. That’s been frustrating at times for him and me. I’m more understanding of it than he is, but that’s been hard. I told him if he just gets back to the basics, other things are going to come. His shooting will get so much better this summer.”
That work to become the player he wants to be hasn’t always allowed him to focus on his leadership, Izzo said. But he showed both Friday.
“He went through a tough eight months, and so I think it’s hard to lead others if you’re working on your own game,” Izzo said. “If you’re not pleased with your own game, it’s hard to lead others, so he’s getting a little bit of that both now, and it couldn’t come at a better time.”
Fears said he doesn’t think about the negatives much from that night 14 months ago. He is more focused on where he is going.
As Michigan State moves on to the conference tournament semifinals against Wisconsin on Saturday and then into the NCAA Tournament as No. 1 or 2 seed, Fears reminds himself to be grateful that he’s on the court.
“It’s just kind of a life lesson not to take games for granted,” he said. “You never know when your last game can be, so I just try to go out there and go play as hard as I can no matter what. When things aren’t going good for me, still trying to be happy, just understanding you never know what can happen. Just be grateful for the opportunity that you have right now at that moment.”
Wisconsin 86, UCLA 70
John Tonje matched his career high with six 3-pointers on his way to 26 points, and No. 18 Wisconsin tied the Big Ten Tournament single-game record by making 19 3s in an 86-70 victory over fourth-seeded UCLA.
Tonje also had nine rebounds and four assists. He was 9 of 10 from the field and a perfect 6 for 6 on 3s as the Badgers (25-8) advanced to Saturday’s first semifinal against No. 7 Michigan State.
John Blackwell added 18 points, five rebounds and four assists while making four 3s. Six Badgers made at least one shot from beyond the arc. Iowa also made 19 3s against Northwestern three years ago.
Sebastian Mack scored 18 points for the Bruins (22-10), who head into the NCAA Tournament with a 4-4 mark in their last eight games. Kobe Johnson had 14 points.
The Associated Press contributed.
