It has been a long road to recovery for Jeremy Fears Jr. After arriving at Michigan State as one of the most sought after recruits in the nation, the point guard missed the majority of his first college season after being shot in the thigh on Dec. 20, 2023. Fears underwent surgery, followed by countless hours of rehab and practice, and worked his way into head coach Tom Izzo’s starting lineup in his comeback. The redshirt freshman has led his team to a hot start in 2025, as the 12th-ranked Spartans have relied heavily on their floor general in their 15 wins this season.
Fears followed up his first career double-double against Washington on Jan. 9 with another strong outing at Northwestern three days later with family in attendance from Fears’ hometown of Joliet, Ill. MSU’s catalyst recorded 12 points to go with eight assists against the Wildcats, helping boost his assists per game to 6.4, which ranks third in the Big Ten.
“It was great actually, just being able to play at home in general: That’s my first time being able to go back home and play,” Fears said at practice after the 78-68 victory in Evanston. “But really the most important thing was getting a win.”
Michigan State endured a disappointing end to last year, losing in the second round of the NCAA tournament but the Spartans are now back to playing fast and physical basketball. After learning from the sidelines last season, Fears is the straw that stirs the drink for a team that consistently rotates 10 players. After getting some March Madness revenge on No. 12 North Carolina early in the season at the Maui Invitational, MSU is undefeated in conference play and has won 10 straight games for the first time since the 2018-19 season.
“My time last year just sitting on the bench and watching everything—just getting experience from watching film, watching other teams, going through the scouting reports—really just helped me go into this year knowing the do’s and don’ts,” Fears said. “Just tightening up my basketball knowledge and IQ, just by really watching and understanding the flow, the pace of the game, momentum runs and how all that works.”
Izzo has coached some of the best point guards to ever grace the hardwood in college basketball. From Mateen Cleaves to Cassius Winston, the winningest head coach in MSU program history knows the type of resiliency it takes to be great on the court. After seeing Fears go through such an ordeal off the court, Izzo thought it would take much longer for his starting point guard to get back to game shape. All of the progress that has happened since has been nothing short of remarkable to the Naismith Hall of Famer.
“I say all the time when Jeremy still gets frustrated where he is sometimes, I think it’s incredible that he missed eight months, and at the beginning he couldn’t do almost anything,” Izzo said. “To me, he is not where he is going to be yet. He has improved his shooting greatly. At the end there, he really got after it defensively. I think he can do that on a regular basis.
“I’ve never been through something like that, but I know what the injury was. I know what the doctor said. I know the fact that some said maybe he would never be the same. He worked his tail off, and I am sad that it happened, but he deserves a lot of credit for what he’s done and bouncing back.”
High-flying sophomore forward Coen Carr has been on the receiving end of many alley-oops from Fears this season. Carr said that knowing all of the adversity his teammate had to deal with has given him perspective and made it easier to go out and play hard.
“It kind of lets you look at it and realize that your problems aren’t really that big,” Carr said. “So seeing him coming back from that to be able to play at the level he’s playing now is definitely amazing.”
Michigan State is entering the heart of the conference schedule, with multiple ranked games coming around the corner in February. For Fears, this is the first time in his college career that the pressure on the court will be turned all the way up. Adversity is nothing new for him though, and his perseverance could inspire the Spartans to another classic March run—and their third NCAA championship.
About the Author
Nick Lundberg is a senior at Michigan State University and currently interns for WJR Radio in Detroit, serving as the student correspondent for the MSU football and basketball teams. Nick has been covering Spartan events since his time as a freshman with the campus paper, The State News, as well as gaining diverse media experience with other groups on campus.
