MSU’s Jeremy Fears Jr. returns from gunshot and reminds opposing coach of Mateen Cleaves

EAST LANSING — King Rice played point guard for a coaching icon. Which makes Monmouth’s coach uniquely qualified to give a one-game analysis of Michigan State basketball’s Jeremy Fears Jr.

Unprompted, Rice vociferously let his appreciation of Fears be heard Monday night at Breslin Center.

It didn’t matter that, without context, the redshirt freshman’s stat line in the Spartans’ 81-57 season-opening victory didn’t jump off the page: three points, eight assists, two turnovers, three fouls in 22 minutes. Rice marveled at the nuance he saw beyond Fears’ numbers.

“I take my hat off to people who are really good point guards — not guys that score, too, and can do the Russell Westbrook, but a kid that just comes in and runs the team,” Rice said. “And I watched him warm up, because I was intrigued with him, (me) being a point guard. And I watched him warm up, he practices all those passes, OK? Everybody’s out there shooting jumpers, doing all kinds of other stuff, and he’s practicing every one of those passes he threw tonight. And in warmups.”

Rice also left out one important facet: Fears was doing all of that in his first official game back at Breslin, nearly 10 months after he took a bullet in his upper left leg that some feared might end his college basketball career.

Michigan State’s Jeremy Fears Jr. moves the ball against Monmouth during the first half on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.

It was an important caveat MSU coach Tom Izzo made sure to mention Tuesday, with the Spartans preparing for their second nonconference game Thursday night against Niagara (8 p.m., BTN+). An important return for his most important player at the most important position in his program.

“It’s really unbelievable,” Izzo said. “I mean, there were some people, doctors, that were talking about would he ever come back to that. You can still see, every once in a while, he’s not quite as explosive, but it’s very seldom. He’s making progress. Now, it’s…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/msus-jeremy-fears-jr-returns-211009476.html

Author : Detroit Free Press

Publish date : 2024-11-06 21:10:00

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