Maui trip tests Jeremy Fears Jr.’s recovery

On November 26, 2024By Littum

EAST LANSING – Tom Izzo continues to marvel at Jeremy Fears Jr.’s quick recovery. has achieved after a gunshot wound in December.

Still, the Michigan State basketball coach found himself recently realizing his redshirt freshman still has work ahead of him to get back to where he was before he took a bullet to the leg.

This week’s trip to the Maui Invitational represents another step and test for Fears in his return — a 10-hour flight, followed by three matches in three consecutive days against elite competition, then another long trip home.

“The physical part of it is something we will have to manage a little bit. He’s going to have to talk to us, we’re going to have to talk to him,” Izzo said Thursday before the team left for Hawaii. “There’s no doubt when you play three games in three days, it’s always a problem for the most talented, in-form guys.”

The Spartans (4-1) flew to Maui on Friday and opened Monday against Colorado (4-0). Tipoff is at 5:00 PM ET at the Lahaina Civic Center (ESPN2). The field also includes two-time defending national champion No. 2 Connecticut, which opens the tournament against Memphis at 2:30 p.m. ET. The winners of these two matches will meet at 6 p.m. ET Tuesday, while the two losers of the first game tip at 3:30 p.m

For Fears, it will be the first chance he’s had to play for a championship since his senior year at Joliet West High in Illinois. MSU played a single-game Thanksgiving event last year against Arizona. The former four-star point guard was shot in the early morning hours of Dec. 23 in his hometown after returning from Christmas vacation.

Fear missed the rest of the season — including the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments — after undergoing three hours of surgery to remove the bullet from his upper left leg, returning to the court in early summer and returning to competition in MSU’s three – games, 10-day August trip to Spain.

“It’s really a mental thing,” Fears said after practice Thursday. “I train three days in a row, so training is hopefully harder than the games. So it’s just being able to go out there and be ready. Obviously I’ll do my rehab and recovery before and after the fight, so it’s just making sure I look after my body and still go as hard as possible to try and win.”

After being redshirted by the NCAA over the summer for the 2023-24 season, Fears immediately took over as the starting point guard this season with AJ Hoggard’s departures to transfer (Vanderbilt) and Tyson Walker’s graduation. Through five games, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Fears is averaging 6.2 points, 6.2 assists and 1.2 rebounds in 20.8 minutes per game. Fears is 8-for-20 from the floor and 14-for-18 at the free throw line, adding six steals and a block as his lateral quickness on defense continues to improve.

Still, in MSU’s tough 83-75 home win Tuesday over Samford, Izzo didn’t feel Fears was at peak capacity and played him a season-low 13 minutes. He missed his only shot and finished with two points on free throws, and he dished out four assists but committed three early turnovers. That came after committing five turnovers with his season-high 10 points in 21 minutes of a hard-fought win against Bowling Green three days earlier.

Which makes the trip to Maui a good barometer to see how the Fears will hold up when Big Ten play is around the corner, with the Spartans opening Dec. 4 at Minnesota.

“Last week I told him I thought it would be mid-December to Christmas before he gets his sea legs back after eight, nine months off,” Izzo said. “It’s coming and he’s been playing better. Hopefully now we’ll see where he’s at.”

Fear said he is eager to see in Maui how he matches up against more elite competition. Towards no. 1 Kansas in the Champions Classic on Nov. 12, he had nine points on 3-for-8 shooting with six assists, three rebounds, two steals and two turnovers. He also faced Duke and Arizona last year and played in conference games against Wisconsin and Nebraska before the shooting.

“Really just (seeing) how much I’ve grown and how much I improved from last year,” he said.

The point guard depth that Holloman and Richardson provide behind Fears gives the Spartans the ability to rest and rotate each at multiple spots, which Izzo hasn’t had to run his team very often in his career.

“Obviously I can go out there and give it my all. I know I have guys that can come in and help me and even bring more intensity and energy to the game,” Fears said of the trio. “So there is obviously strength in numbers. As the coach says, we have a lot of guys. We can play everyone and not have any drop off, we actually pick up.”

Richardson’s sprained ankle suffered against Samford also adds a wrinkle of complexity to Izzo’s scoring plans for the Maui Invitational — in a field that also features No. 3 Auburn, no. 5 Iowa State, no. 14 North Carolina and Dayton. The combo guard is expected to be ready for Monday’s opener, though Izzo admitted he and his staff will monitor both Fears and Richardson.

“We’re going to go in and try to see what we can do,” Izzo said. “There are going to be some good teams that come back 1-2, and there are going to be one or two good teams that can come back 0-3. And that’s how it is in this tournament.”

Maui Invitational schedule

Monday

Memphis vs. no. 2 Connecticut, at 2:30 p.m

MSU vs. Colorado, at 5 p.m. (ESPN2)

no. 3 Auburn vs. no. 5 Iowa State, at 21 (ESPNU)

Dayton vs. No. 14 North Carolina, 11:30 p.m. (ESPN2)

Tuesday

Memphis-UConn loses vs. MSU-Colorado loses, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN2)

Memphis-UConn winner vs. MSU-Colorado winner, 6 p.m. 6 p.m. (ESPN)

Auburn-Iowa State loser vs. Dayton-UNC Loser, 8:30 p.m. (ESPNU)

Winner of Auburn-Iowa State vs. Dayton-UNC winner, 6 p.m. 23 (ESPN)

Wednesday

Fifth-place game, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN or ESPN2)

Championship match, at 5 p.m. (ESPN)

Game for third place, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN2)

Seventh-Place Game, Midnight (ESPN2)

Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.

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