- Jeremy Fears Jr. is one of four Michigan State basketball point guards to lead the Spartans to a 30-win season.
- Friday’s Sweet 16 win over Ole Miss showed a sample of the winning plays Fears made to help send Izzo back to the Elite Eight for the 11th time and first since 2019.
- Sunday’s regional final will feature Fears leading MSU against electric Auburn freshman Tahaad Pettiford.
ATLANTA — There is something to be said about Jeremy Fears Jr. and his drive to succeed. And the reason Tom Izzo has equated his young point guard to Michigan State basketball national champion Mateen Cleaves.
Take the final five-plus minutes Friday night and a sample of the winning plays Fears made to help send Izzo back to the Elite Eight for the 11th time and first since 2019.
∎A baseline drive and getting fouled, showing renewed poise at the free throw line to hit a pair.
∎ His instinctual defensive decision to leap at midcourt to steal a potentially damaging outlet pass after Mississippi had taken back the lead with a 3-pointer, redirecting the ball to Coen Carr for a momentum-jolting breakaway dunk.
∎ Then after another Rebels 3-pointer, Fears attacked off the dribble and hit a floater in the paint that once again stabilized the Spartans. They never trailed again en route to a 73-70 Sweet 16 victory over Ole Miss.
FOLLOW THE MADNESS: NCAA men’s tournament bracket, scores, schedules, teams and more.
MITCH ALBOM: March Madness games have become timeouts interrupted by basketball
After which, Izzo’s praise for his young leader — despite only scoring four points with six assists — once again was lofty.
“Jeremy made some big plays. Jeremy made a lot of plays in the huddles,” Izzo said Friday night. “He really did a hell of a job. … Jeremy was in the huddle talking about, ‘Let’s get Tre (Holloman) this shot, let’s get him coming off this.’ I mean, it was kind of the player-coached team that I love so much.
“And give Jeremy Fears credit for that.”
Cleaves led Izzo to his first Final Four appearances in 1999 and a national championship in 2000. Now 25 years later, and a little more than 15 months after being shot in the upper left thigh, Fears has the Spartans one win away from going to San Antonio and taking Izzo to his ninth Final Four in his 30th season.
And maybe more.
“Gotta thank God and just grateful for this opportunity,” Fears said Saturday as No. 2-seed MSU prepared to face No. 1 overall seed Auburn in the Elite Eight. “A year ago, I was rehabbing, getting right and hoping and praying for moments like this.”
The Spartans (30-6) and Tigers (31-5) tip off at 5:05 p.m. Sunday at State Farm Arena on CBS. And like many March Madness matchups over the decades, point guard play will be at a premium.
It will be Fears, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound redshirt freshman from Joliet, Illinois, leading MSU against electric Auburn freshman Tahaad Pettiford. The 6-1, 175-pound former five-star prospect from New Jersey posts 11.8 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists while shooting 37.6% from 3-point range.
SHAWN WINDSOR: Tom Izzo has Michigan State basketball back where he said he’d get to — or ‘die trying’
Pettiford came off the bench and scored 20 points on 7-for-14 shooting in Auburn’s 78-65 win over 5-seed Michigan in Friday’s Sweet 16.
This won’t be the first time the two players — both of whom enjoy verbally jousting with their opponents — have met. Fears recalled his Indy Heat 17U team lost to Pettiford’s New Heights Lightning squad in Kentucky, then beat Pettiford in the 2022 Nike Peach Jam.
“Confident kid. He trusts in his work,” Fears said of Pettiford. “He’s really skilled, believes in his game. He makes tough shots. … He’s a competitor, he’s gonna compete.”
Pettiford is not afraid to let his game back up his mouth. Neither are Fears and MSU junior Tre Holloman. Spartans freshman Jase Richardson, who also played against Pettiford when they were in eighth grade, knows there could be some combustible moments Sunday.
“Yeah, he talks. He definitely talks. He’s a talker,” Richardson said of Pettiford with a grin and laugh. “Gotta make sure most of my guys stay away from that, because I got a lot of guys that like to chirp back, and they always get the second guy. So I gotta make sure my guys are dialed in, make sure we’re not doing anything.”
Fears and Holloman both said they know there’s a line they’ll need to toe to not go overboard or potentially get a technical foul for chirping.
“But I think that’s what makes us special,” Fears said of himself and Holloman’s fiery demeanors. “We play with emotion and passion. And it just shows how much we care out there playing. Obviously, you want to be smart.”
Said Holloman: “I think talking gets Jeremy going, man. That’s what gets him fired up. That’s what really makes Jeremy, his talking ability and the ability to get in somebody’s head.”
After missing all but 10 games last season after being shot, Fears has started all but one game this season. He sat out MSU’s regular-season win over Oregon while sick, and he averages 7.3 points and 2.1 rebounds per game, while his 5.5 assists and 1.1 steals a game lead the Spartans.
“When Jeremy’s showing that competitive spirit, I feel like it gets him into the flow,” Richardson said. “He’s running the offense better, he’s throwing lobs, he’s getting downhill, making plays for himself. So I definitely feel if Jeremy gets in that mindset, it’s really good for us.”
Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said he knows Fears’ father, who played at Ohio, and coached against Fears’ younger brother with Oklahoma this season.
“Incredible talent, incredible gift,” Pearl said. “Fearless. A killer.”
Fears guided Izzo to his sixth 30-win season in his career. Cleaves (1999, 2000), Cassius Winston (2018, 2019) and Kalin Lucas (2009) are the only other point guards to win 30 games in a season during Izzo’s tenure. Four of those seasons ended with Final Four runs.
One more victory, and Fears will join them in the pantheon of great MSU point guards — with three more years of eligibility remaining after this season. And Fears, much like Cleaves before him, wants to get Izzo another national title.
“Just the fact that coach has been coaching for 30 years and he’s still fiery, he still cares, still has love for the players and the game. He still showed that he’s got something left,” Fears said of Izzo. “People say he’s gonna retire — coach don’t want to. Coach still wants to coach and enjoy the moments and help other people get better. That’s just so special and what we love about him.
“And at the same time, we just want to keep winning and keep making him proud and make ourselves proud.”
Contact Chris Solari:[email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.
Subscribe to the “Spartan Speak” podcast for new episodes weekly on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.
