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Tom Izzo compares Jeremy Fears to Mateen Cleaves after Michigan State season opener

On3 imageby: Dan Morrison5 hours agodan_morrison96
Jeremy Fears, Tom Izzo, Michigan State
© Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Legendary head coach Tom Izzo saw his Michigan State Spartans team start slow on Monday night against Colgate. Amid that, he turned once again to star point guard Jeremy Fears to lead his team to a hard-fought win.

At this point, Fears is the kind of player who Izzo loves and is consistently impressed with. In fact, he reminds Izzo of a player who he had early in his career at Michigan State who would go on to become a program legend, Mateen Cleaves.

“Listen, Jeremy Fears I said, is a version of Mateen Cleaves,” Tom Izzo said. “He’s not there yet, but he can — when the head goes, the body usually follows, and when the head goes south, the body usually follows. There’s a lot of pressure on Jeremy because, right now, those wings haven’t played very well.”

Mateen Cleaves played at Michigan State from 1996 to 2000. During that time, he’d be a consensus All-American, two-time Big Ten Player of the Year, and an NCAA Champion. He’d go on to be a first round NBA Draft pick and have his No. 12 retired by Michigan State.

That’s a difficult legacy to live up to, but Jeremy Fears is working to do so at Michigan State. A four-star recruit in the Class of 2023, he was the 40th-ranked player overall in that recruiting cycle. He had come to college as a McDonald’s All-American. He’d break out last season as a sophomore, starting in all 36 games for Michigan State, finishing top on the team in assists.

During the win over Colgate, Fears played a team-high 34 minutes. All he did in that time was put up a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists on the game. He even had five rebounds from his spot as a guard.

“I thought Jeremy, that second half, did everything I asked him to do and more. Those stats are like unbelievable with the rebounds, the steals, the assists, the lack of turnovers. I thought he did a hell of a job. But he lost it a little bit in the first half. Thank God he regrouped,” Izzo said. “And I understood some of why he loses it. Our bigs did not cover those ball screens like we had worked on. But that’s my job, I told him, not his.”

Tom Izzo will need Jeremy Fears to be at his best this weekend. Michigan State is set to welcome a talented Arkansas team to East Lansing on Saturday.