Under Tom Izzo, Michigan State basketball typically goes as far as its point guard takes them. The greats have all made deep runs in March like Mateen Cleaves, Kalin Lucas, Cassius Winston and others.
Those guys weren’t just great players. More importantly, they were great leaders.
Point guards don’t need to shoot the lights out to be good. It’s more about how they command the unit on the floor and how they get the most out of each guy by putting them in positions to succeed.
Jeremy Fears does that.
In Thursday’s game against Washington, Fears had his best game as a Spartan. He recorded his first career double-double by totaling 12 points and 10 assists.
This season, he is averaging 7.6 points per game and 6.3 assists per game. He is also averaging a steal per game, showcasing his defensive prowess.
After the dominant 88-54 win by Michigan State to improve to 4-0 in Big Ten play, Fears didn’t gloat about his double-double in the locker room. Instead, he spoke very highly of the group he has around him.
“We just got a special group,” he said. “I can’t really ask for a better group around here. Everyone comes in and competes, watches film, does what they need to do and just be a pro. That’s what we talk about. That’s our next goal, the next level. So, to be a pro, you got to do pro things.”
The Spartans just seem to mesh well as a unit and it shows on the court.
“We’ve just played a lot of basketball,” Fears said. “We know where each other would be. We have each other’s back. We trust each other. I know if my brother messed up, I’m there to pick him up. If I mess up, they’ll pick me up.”
Fears doesn’t only mesh well with the team. It seems that he and Izzo are always on the same wavelength, but that all stems from Fears’ youth.
Fears Jr. has a tattoo on his right leg that reads "B4CM" in a vertical position - it stands for “Ball 4 Coach Marcus.”
Coach Marcus was one of Fears’ youth coaches, who has since passed away. He was fiery on the sideline, similar to Izzo. Fears resonated with that style of coaching, which is why Coach Marcus was a big reason why Fears ended up in East Lansing.
Another reason why Fears opted to play at Michigan State was the dedicated fanbase, which showed up in numbers for the annual Izzone Alumni game on Thursday. The crowd plays a big factor into why the Breslin Center remains a tough place to play.
That crowd, alongside team chemistry, helped the Spartans suffocate Washington right from the opening tip off.
“We trust in each other,” Fears said. “We know if we all do our job, it should lead to something good and then we can get out and run. We can get out in transition, get open shots, get open dunks. Especially at home, an early dunk or an early 3-pointer can just ignite the crowd and once we get the crowd in it, it’s hard to beat us and the crowd.”
Michigan State now boasts a 13-2 overall record and the Spartans will look to stay undefeated in Big Ten play on Sunday when they travel to Northwestern.
Despite the eight game win streak that included several quality wins, Fears thinks the Spartans still have a few more gears to hit.
“I don’t think we’ve peaked yet at all,” he said. “We’re just slowly getting better. We want to be playing our best basketball by March. Right now, we know we’re slowly building, slowly getting better. And like coach (Izzo) said, just get 1% better every day.”
Sunday’s game against the Wildcats will get underway at approximately noon eastern time on FOX.
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