MSU's Fears on His Leadership, Needed Improvements for the Spartans

EAST LANSING, Mich. --- Michigan State's Jeremy Fears Jr. had another great game on Thursday during the Spartans' 79-60 win over San Jose State. The redshirt sophomore guard scored 15 points, had five rebounds, and dished out nine assists while being plus-17 over 31 minutes.

Head coach Tom Izzo has likened Fears' leadership qualities to those of Mateen Cleaves, who led MSU to the 2000 national championship. Izzo called Cleaves a "perfect example" of Fears during his postgame press conference.

Shortly after that, Spartan Nation caught up with Fears, as he talked about his role as a leader, what he and his teammates need to improve on, and the upcoming game against No. 9 Kentucky at Madison Square Garden.

A video of Fears' media availability can be viewed below.

Watch Jeremy Fears Jr. here:

Additionally, a partial transcript of what Fears was asked and what he said has been provided.

Transcript

Q: Do you have a different approach as a leader this year? Do you have a different approach? It seems like you're different out on the court, and Coach [Izzo] talked about that he's seen growth from you in that position. Talk about that a little bit.

FEARS: Oh, definitely. I think I got older, matured a little bit more. There's obviously certain things you can and can't do. You know, reactions, maybe like knowing when to use my fiery power, emotion, and also when to kind of stay calm and cool.

You know, there's a lot of players, some freshmen playing. But everybody kind of really don't... I'll say no games [schenanigans] here. They've seen practice in the summer.

But in the game, you know, just making sure I keep my cool when it goes good and when it goes bad, and when I need to get on somebody, when I don't. So, just understanding that as I got older.

Q: I've seen you kind of uplifting guys on the court, specifically some of those guys transfers or some of the younger guys. Has that been a point of emphasis for you?

FEARS: Oh, definitely. Obviously, I want to kind of help them. I kind of feel like I kind of got three years of games. But, two for, I guess now you'll say playing years.

So, I just kind of understand seeing all the different coverages, defenses, and also seeing when someone's struggling. Like, I know when I was a freshman, I struggled my first year.

And then last year I had some up-and-down games. Even last game, when I think I struggled shooting the ball.

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