MSU's Jeremy Fears Jr. Talks Defensive Struggles vs. Cornell
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EAST LANSING, Mich. --- Monday night's game featured offense, offense, and then... more offense.
No. 9 Michigan State got by relatively comfortably against Cornell, 114-97, but the Spartans are certainly not accustomed to allowing so many points. The previous season-high for points allowed by MSU was just 72 during its road game at Penn State on Dec. 13.
Even though Cornell was already averaging more than 90 points per game, teams are not supposed to walk into the Breslin Center and put up that many points. Michigan State ended up scoring its most points in a game since 2008 and tied for the fifth-most in any game in program history, but that "97" on the scoreboard sticks out.
"More of the 'we allowed 97,'" guard Jeremy Fears Jr. said when asked if he was happier MSU scored 114 points or mad it gave up 97. "At one point, [Cornell] had [66] with that media timeout with eight minutes [left]. They came out, and they scored 30 points within, like, the next eight minutes. That's kind of unacceptable on our part, and we've got to do our job."
Spartan Nation caught up with Fears following the game. A video of his postgame media availability has been provided below.
Watch Jeremy Fears Jr. here:
Fears' Game against Cornell
Fears had a much-needed quality scoring performance against Cornell, though. His 21 points were the most for either side, but it was also a new career-high for him. The redshirt sophomore guard shot 7-for-11 from the field, 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, and 4-for-5 at the charity stripe. He also racked up the assist numbers, per usual, getting 11 of them to just two turnovers.
This is a key game that should get Fears' confidence back up. He had been struggling as a scorer before Christmas break, shooting just 23.7% from the field and 1-for-12 from deep in the five games before MSU had that holiday breather.
Michigan State needs Fears to be a consistent scorer, especially during games when the defense is not playing very well. KenPom still rates MSU as the eighth-best defense nationally, but the Spartans have not really looked like defensive stalwarts against Oakland, and especially Cornell.
"We gave up a lot of threes, which is kind of hard," Fears said. "It's just something we can build on. I think they're [Cornell] the best three-point shooting and cutting team, which makes it difficult. It's not just all threes; you can kind of game plan for that. You've got to game plan for the back doors, for the cuts, the movement."
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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