MSU's Fears Receives Prestigious Big Ten Honor

It's been a long time since Michigan State has had someone win this award.

Seventh-ranked MSU point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. was named Monday as the Big Ten's Co-Player of the Week. He earned the honor after dropping 17 points and 17 assists during the Spartans' victory over Maryland on Saturday. It was the first-ever 17-point, 17-assist performance in the conference's history. Fears also scored 14 points and had five assists last Tuesday against Oregon.

Michigan State's Jeremy Fears Jr. attempts a free throw against Cornell at the Breslin Center on Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. | Starr Portice, Michigan State Spartans on SI

Fears split the award with Illinois' Keaton Wagler, who recently dropped 46 points against Purdue on Saturday as well. Wagler also got the conference's Freshman of the Week award.

What's sort of stunning is the drought for Michigan State with the Big Ten Player of the Week award. Fears is the Spartans' first winner since Aaron Henry did so back on March 8, 2021. Henry averaged 18.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game across a three-game stretch that week.

Fears has been MSU's most valuable asset through 20 games this season. The Joliet, Ill., native just became the Spartans' leading scorer on the year, evolving from 7.2 points per game last season (sixth on the team) to 13.4 points per contest this season. Oh yeah, and Fears has two more years of eligibility remaining after this season.

The scoring isn't really what makes Fears a key part of this year's team, though. Fears is averaging 8.9 assists per game, which is second in the nation and is up from 5.4 last season. Almost as impressive is that turnovers have stayed the same, going from 2.0 to 2.2. When factoring in that Fears is also playing more minutes than last year, his turnovers have actually gone down.

More on Fears

Michigan State's Jeremy Fears Jr. jogs out to the court after being introduced as a starter against Northwestern at the Breslin Center on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. | Starr Portice, Michigan State Spartans on SI

That 17-assist performance also approached a program record for Michigan State. It ended up tying for the second-most in a game in MSU's history, joining Gary Ganakas' 17 assists during a game against Rochester in December 1972. The overall record is Mateen Cleaves' 20 assists against Michigan on March 4, 2000.

There's a chance Fears could be coming for more records later on in his career. He certainly could challenge Cleaves' single-game record later on in his career, but Cassius Winston's overall assist record should be a little nervous. Fears is averaging 6.7 assists this season and last; Winston averaged 6.4 assists for his entire Michigan State career. If Fears sticks around for a redshirt junior and redshirt junior season, Winston's overall mark of 890 assists could be surpassed.

Michigan State guard Jeremy Fears Jr. (1) dribbles against Indiana guard Conor Enright (5) during the second half at Breslin Center in East Lansing on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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