Jeremy Fears Jr. is six assists away from passing the most beloved player in Michigan State history.
Fears is on the verge of jetting past Magic Johnson for third place on the school’s single-season assists list when the No. 8 Spartans face Rutgers on Wednesday night in Big Ten play at East Lansing, Mich.
Fears leads the nation with 9.1 assists per game and his total of 264 this season sits fourth in school history. Cassius Winston (291 in 2018-19) holds the record, followed by Mateen Cleaves (274 in 1998-99) and Johnson (269 in 1978-79).
“He’s playing as good as anybody in the league right now,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said Tuesday. “He’s making players around him better and that’s what the great ones do. Mateen Cleaves and (Magic) had the ability to make decent players into very good players.”
Fears has reached double digits in assists 12 times this season. He also has scored in double figures in 17 straight games and leads the squad with a 15.1 scoring average.
“What’s been fun about Jeremy, and I made no bones about it, Jeremy was a pain in the keister for a while as some other great players I’ve had were,” Izzo said. “I said to myself, ‘I think this kid needs me and I need him.’
“… I’m really proud of what he’s done. He went through some adversity — some inflicted and some not.”
The Spartans (24-5, 14-4 Big Ten) have won four straight games and are on the verge of landing a triple bye for the Big Ten tournament. Michigan State is tied with Nebraska for second place with two regular-season games left.
The Spartans are coming off a 77-64 road victory over Indiana on Sunday. Fears had 21 points and nine assists and Jaxon Kohler had 21 points and 13 rebounds.
Kohler, who averages 12.4 points and a team-best 9.2 rebounds, broke out after scoring in single digits in five of the previous six games.
“Jaxon has been struggling a little bit,” Fears said. “Now hopefully we can get him back up. If he’s playing his best basketball, we’re playing our best basketball.”
The Scarlet Knights (12-17, 5-13) have won three of their past five games. They led Maryland by 19 at halftime on Sunday before holding on for a 69-65 road victory.
“You’ve got to play 40 minutes,” Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said. “Halftime doesn’t mean the game is over. Halftime means the battle has just begun.”
Tariq Francis led the Scarlet Knights with 19 points, sinking all 10 of his free-throw attempts. Darren Buchanan Jr. scored 14 points as Rutgers copes with a disappointing campaign.
“It hasn’t been one of those years,” Pikiell said. “When you’re fighting the phone and you’re fighting all the things these players have to fight and they have options coming up, you have to keep them focused.”
Rutgers certainly deserved a better fate in the first meeting with Michigan State when it fell 88-79 in overtime at home on Jan. 27.
The Scarlet Knights led by 12 with under 10 minutes to play before the Spartans stormed back and forced OT on Divine Ugochukwu’s 3-pointer with 11.1 seconds left. Fears then took over in the extra session by scoring 10 of his 29 points.
Izzo said afterward that Rutgers deserved to win that contest. He still feels that way.
“You look at their record, Rutgers was the one team that played us as good or better than any of the other teams that we’re playing,” Izzo said. “We earned it at the end out there, but they probably deserved to beat us.”
