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OU Basketball: Oklahoma Freshman Jeremiah Fears Lands Another SEC Award

After his two huge performances led the Sooners to two victories last week, Fears picked up some more hardware from the Southeastern Conference.
John Hoover|
Oklahoma guard Jeremiah Fears
Oklahoma guard Jeremiah Fears | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

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Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma guard Jeremiah Fears made the most of his opportunities last week.

This week he is reaping the rewards.

Fears, a 6-foot-4, 182-pound freshman from Joliet, IL, led the Sooners to two massive victories over Missouri and Texas and on Monday was named SEC Freshman of the Week.

Fears averaged 22.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.0 steal as the Sooners stsrengthened their NCAA Tournament resume with two Quad 1 wins over quality SEC opponents.

In OU's 96-84 win over No. 15 Missouri at Lloyd Noble Center on Wednesday night, Fears scored a career‐high 31 points on just 13 field goal attempts. He was 9-of-13 from the field and made all 12 of his free throws (tying a career high). He added four rebounds, five assists and a steal while committing a career‐low one turnover.

In the Sooners' 76-72 victory at Texas on Saturday, Fears overcame a 2-of-14 shooting performance by getting to the free throw line repeatedly, where he made 9‐of‐10 free throws shooting and scored 13 points. Fears added two rebounds, four assists and a steal with just two turnovers.

He drew 21 fouls over the two games and was 21-of-22 from the line (.955). He entered the week averaging 3.6 turnovers per game but had just three total in the two wins.

It's the fourth SEC Freshman of the Week award for Fears, who was also honored Dec. 2, Dec. 23 and Feb. 24.

On the season, Fears is the only SEC player, regardless of class, and one of just two freshmen nationally (Duke's Cooper Flagg is the other) to average at least 16.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game.

Over the last six contests, Fears is averaging 20.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists. He is the only player in the SEC this season to average at least 20.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists over a six-game stretch (only five other SEC players have done it over the last 10 seasons; LSU's Ben Simmons, Kentucky's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, LSU's Tremont Waters, Alabama's Kira Lewis Jr. and Auburn's Sharife Cooper). Only two other Sooners have accomplished the feat going back to the start of the 1996-97 season (Trae Young in 2017-18 and Austin Reaves in 2020-21).

No. 14 seed Oklahoma (19-12, 6-12 SEC) meets No. 11 seed Georgia (20-11, 8-10) in a first-round SEC Tournament game on Wednesday at approximately 8:30 p.m. CT inside 19,395-seat Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. The winner will play No. 6 seed Kentucky on Thursday at approximately 8:30 p.m. Both games will be televised by SEC Network.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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