MSU's Fears Lands on Elite National Watchlist
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Jeremy Fears Jr. is playing like one of the best players in the country. He's getting recognized for it now.
On Monday, the Bob Cousy Award, given annually to the nation's top point guard, released its midseason watch list. Fears was just one of 10 players who made the cut. He, Purdue's Braden Smith, and Iowa's Bennett Stirtz were the only representatives from the Big Ten.
Fears is averaging 14.9 points, 8.8 assists, and 1.3 steals per game this season. His production has really increased recently, though. Across Michigan State's last 10 games, Fears has averaged 19.8 points and 8.3 assists per game. He's set a new career-high in consecutive games, dropping 29 points against Rutgers last Tuesday and then surpassing that with 31 against now-No. 2 Michigan on Friday. Fears was named the Big Ten's Player of the Week for a second straight week for his efforts.
The inclusion of Fears should be no surprise. He should be a serious candidate to win the award, which no MSU player has won since it was first given out in 2004. Fears is currently the top point guard in the country on popular analytics site KenPom, also ranking third among all players, regardless of position.
More on Fears' Season
Fears' evolution from last season to this season --- and really from the beginning of this season to now --- has been very clear. His best trait still is as a passer, with his assists per game jumping from 5.4 to 8.8 per game, but what's maybe more impressive is that turnovers have only gone from 2.0 a contest to 2.2. Given how much Fears is handling the ball this year, he's really turning it over less.
But his aggressiveness as a scorer has gone way up. Fears has seemed to be more explosive while taking it to the tin, and he's making more shots there, too. His shooting percentage from inside the arc has jumped from 41.1% last season to 53.1% this year.
Fears' three-point percentage is down, but he's taking more shots and his form looks better. It's just a matter of trying to get more of them to fall and continuing to try to shoot out of it. His agent is former longtime NBA three-point specialist Mike Miller, so he has the resources to fix his shot.
Yes, Fears is also a great free-throw shooter, going from 73.0% at the line last year to 89.5% this season. His methods of getting to the charity stripe --- usually baiting defenders into fouling him --- get called into question a lot, but no one ever says that it doesn't work.
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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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