MSU Lands 1 Player on Prestigious Watch List

Michigan State officially has a player in the running for the John Wooden Award, given annually to the best college basketball player in the country, for the first time since the 2018-19 season.

That player is redshirt sophomore point guard Jeremy Fears, who the John R. Wooden Award Program announced as one of 20 players in contention for the honor. If he becomes an official finalist later in the season, he'll join Draymond Green, Cassius Winston, and Denzel Valentine among the Spartans to reach that point in the process, but no MSU player has ever won it.

Wooden Award Late Midseason Top 20 Watchlist honors for @jeremy_fears 🏀 pic.twitter.com/nQWupg5eix
— Michigan State Men's Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) February 11, 2026

Previous winners from other schools include Larry Bird, Ralph Sampson, Danny Ainge, Tim Duncan, Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, and, most recently, Cooper Flagg.

Other Candidates

Fears is one of five Midseason Wooden Award candidates from the Big Ten, joining Purdue's Braden Smith, Iowa's Bennnett Stirtz, Michigan's Yaxel Lendeborg, and Illinois' Keaton Wagler. Other MSU opponents from this season on the list include Cameron Boozer (Duke) and Caleb Wilson (North Carolina).

The current list is also drawing attention because it includes seven freshmen. Other notable upperclassmen still in the running for the Wooden Award include Arizona's Jaden Bradley, Kansas State's PJ Haggerty, and Florida's Thomas Haugh. The winner will be announced during National Championship weekend along with the women's and high school honorees.

Fears's Breakout Season

The sophomore has emerged as the leader for the Spartans and the catalyst for their offense. He's almost doubled his scoring and assists from last season, leading the team with 15.1 points per game and the country with 219 total assists and 9.1 assists per game, all while playing almost the entire game because of injuries and a lack of point guard depth.

Over the last five games, Fears has scored at least 26 points three times, including a 31-point outburst to help the Spartans upset No. 5 Illinois on Saturday night in overtime, and doled out double-digit assists three times. He had 15 in the Illinois game and threatened Matteen Cleaves' single-game program record with 17 against Maryland. He's also among the Midseason Top 10 for the Bob Cousy Award, given to the nation's top point guard.

According to the latest episode of head coach Tom Izzo's local weekly radio show, he's just the second Spartan guard with multiple games with 14 or more assists in his career. The other? Magic Johnson.

"I'm very proud of what he's done," Izzo said. "He's still got to grow up a little bit. He's still got to get better defensively. He still has to shoot the ball better. He's shooting poorly from three, and eventually, people will guard you differently. It'll be things like that, but he has made a lot of progress ..."

Fears was heralded as the next great MSU point guard as a high school recruit. His play on the court has lived up to it this season, and these award nominations are further proof of his massive potential.

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