The No. 2 seed Michigan State men's basketball team is advancing to the Sweet 16 for the 16th time under head coach Tom Izzo, following the Spartans' 71-63 victory over No. 10 seed New Mexico in the Round of 32 of the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Sunday night.

For the second NCAA Tournament game in a row, Michigan State found itself down early before charging back to take control of the contest and ultimately win.

Perhaps one of the unsung heroes of the night was redshirt freshman point guard Jeremy Fears Jr.

The stats did not jump off of the page for Fears. He finished the game against the Lobos with just five points (all from free throws, going 5-for-8 from the charity stripe), and missed both of his field goal attempts. He added three rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal. Impressively, he finished the game with just one turnover.

However, a lot of the little things that Fears did are things you won't find in the box score. His defense on junior guard Donovan Dent, New Mexico's leading scorer, impressed Izzo. Dent came into the game averaging 20.6 points per game and shooting 49.4% from the floor, but the Spartans held him to 14 points on 7-for-18 (38.9%) shooting on Sunday.

"I thought Jeremy did some really good things, too," Izzo said about Fears in a media scrum after the win over the Lobos. "He had to guard that kid (Dent) a lot by himself, and he pushed that ball, he got people into some positions."

With its deep rotation of contributors, Michigan State's mantra all year has been "strength in numbers," and Fears is well aware that it took the entire team to defeat New Mexico.

"Our whole motto is 'play hard,' and everyone can do a little bit," Fears said in the locker room after the game. "So, that's the best part about it."

There was a moment in the second half where Fears stole the ball from Dent, and Michigan State senior guard Jaden Akins drilled a 3-pointer on the other end, off of an assist from Fears. Akins' triple gave the Spartans a 44-39 lead with 13:12 remaining to play. The play also gave the momentum to the Spartans, who were down 31-29 at halftime, and forced the Lobos to call a timeout.

Fears discussed this sequence as something that catalyzed the Spartans.

"I think because we slowly started going on a run, and that was just the best part, just getting our energy," Fears said. "So, we had got a stop. I think we came down and I pitched it back to Jaden (Akins), and Jaden hit that three, and then now the momentum is running. We got a stop —our energy and juices are flowing. So just that, you know, is the best part. So, now everyone's energetic and and we're rolling."

Fears also had a crucial block on New Mexico senior guard CJ Noland with about 10:22 remaining on the clock in the second half, which helped energize the Spartans and the Michigan State fans in attendance in Cleveland as well.

As MSU basketball fans are well aware of, Fears suffered a gun shot wound to his leg in December of 2023 in his hometown of Joliet, Illinois, which caused his freshman season in 2023-2024 to end after just 12 games.

While he was able to recover well and was available for the start of the 2024-2025 campaign, one aspect of his game he's had to work hard to get back to is his athleticism. Izzo believes the block on Noland is proof that Fears is returning to pre-injury form.

"I heard Jeremy (Fears) was one (who had a block)," Izzo said. "That just shows you his athleticism is coming back. He's just getting better and better, too."

Fears said "he takes pride in" getting blocks and guarding opponents.

Next up, the Spartans will play No. 6 seed Mississippi in the Sweet 16 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Friday night.