Michigan State’s Jeremy Fears Jr. named Big Ten Player of the Week

During the 2000 season, Michigan State basketball closed out its regular season competition on senior night, against the Michigan Wolverines. Mateen Cleaves set the MSU record with 20 assists in one single game as the Spartans cruised to a 101-56 victory. This impressive victory also set another MSU record for the largest margin of victory in a Big Ten contest.

Last weekend, sophomore point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. almost broke that record set by Cleaves, with 17 assists in the Spartans 91-48 victory against Maryland. Fears’s 17 assists ties the previous record before Cleaves, when Gary Ganakas had 17 all the way back in 1972.

Besides the assists numbers, Fears also put up 17 points and two rebounds in only 25 minutes of game time. Comparatively, Cleaves had eight points in his 20-assist game. Saturday was Fears’s fifth double-double this season, and has only increased his numbers where Fears is currently second in the country averaging 8.9 assists per game. Fears only trails Purdue’s Braden Smith, who is averaging 9.2 assists per game.

It was that performance on Saturday that earned Fears the Big Ten Player of the Week honor. He is the first player to win the award since Aaron Henry won it back on March 8, 2021.

Fears has stepped up his game immensely this season. Currently averaging 13.4 points, 8.9 assists, and 2.5 rebounds a game has solidified Fears as one of the country’s best point guards. Tom Izzo has routinely praised the former McDonald’s All-American, comparing Fears to some of the Spartans greatest players such as Cleaves, Cassius Winston, and Kalin Lucas.

Back in his freshman season, Fears only played nine games before missing the rest of the season due to an injury from gun violence when he had returned home for Christmas break. Fears applied and was granted a medical redshirt to give him another year of eligibility to play for the Spartans.

With that extra year, Fears is classified as a sophomore, having two more years of eligibility remaining. Fears is on current pace to also break the Big Ten record for most assists in a career, which is currently held by the aforementioned Braden Smith, who stands at 914 and climbing.