Healthy Tom Izzo says Michigan State basketball point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. almost 100%

EAST LANSING – With his 30th season as Michigan State basketball’s head coach about to begin, Tom Izzo gushed about how much better he feels after his spring hip surgery.

“I feel so much better. I feel healthier, I feel happier,” Izzo said Tuesday inside his team’s meeting room at Breslin Center. “It’s a good thing practice started, so I can get back to being miserable. It’s been too good of a summer.”

He’s half joking. Especially because the improved health of his point guard, Jeremy Fears, has Izzo both smiling and breathing a sigh of relief.

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo talks to guard Jeremy Fears Jr. (1) during the first half against Southern Indiana at Breslin Center in East Lansing on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023.

After the Spartans opened preseason practice Monday, their social media team released a video from the workout of a dunking drill. Each player during it took a pass on a move to the basket and threw one down, including sophomore Coen Carr’s typical highlight reel moment, a casual double-pump, two-handed reverse that drew no response from his teammates.

Seconds later, players were hooting and hollering. That’s because Fears, who was shot in his upper left leg in late December 2023 and missed the remainder of last season, followed Carr in the line.

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound redshirt freshman made a back cut and caught the pass in the lane, then took flight off both feet. He hammered down a windmill dunk that received a chorus of “Ohhhhhh!” that echoed in the Spartans’ practice gym.

“Jeremy’s health is probably at 95%,” Izzo said Tuesday. “He’s still at times maybe doesn’t have quite the explosion, but it’s coming every day. It’s getting better and better.”

Fears played in 12 games last season before the Dec. 23 shooting, averaging 3.5 points, 3.3 assists and 1.9 rebounds with 10 steals over 15.3 minutes. He returned to the court this summer and played point guard in all three games of MSU’s trip to Spain in August.

“He’s a…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/healthy-tom-izzo-says-michigan-102708780.html

Author : Lansing State Journal

Publish date : 2024-09-25 10:27:08

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