And with No. 6 Michigan State basketball preparing for one final exhibition tuneup Sunday against Marquette in Milwaukee, coach Tom Izzo plans to proceed with caution with his All-American point guard.
“I was a little concerned yesterday, but he’s bounced back today,” Izzo said after Thursday’s workout. “He went through half of the practice. I just didn’t let him go live, so I think he’ll be 90% anyway. If he’s not 80%, I’m not playing him. But I don’t see that.”
Fears drove in and scored a left-handed layup but took a hard fall as he landed on the back of Connecticut’s Colben Landrew with 17:53 left in the second half of the Spartans’ 78-70 loss on Tuesday night. The preseason national and Big Ten player of the year pulled himself out of the game and immediately went to MSU’s training staff, but he quickly checked back in with 15:44 to play and finished the game by scoring 11 of his 23 points and four of his eight assists after the scare. Both were game highs.
Izzo said Fears wore a walking boot on that left foot Wednesday as a precaution with the next-day soreness. However, the 6-foot-2 fourth-year junior said he also rolled his right ankle in the waning moments, despite finishing as the Spartans’ leader with 31 minutes played.
“It was a rough little stretch,” Fears said with a chuckle after Thursday’s practice. “But overall, I’m great. I feel great, and I should be ready to go for Sunday.”
MSU faces Marquette on Sunday (1 p.m., streamed only on YouTube). The Spartans’ season opener is Nov. 2 at Breslin Center against Quinnipiac, and having Fears ready for the fearsome schedule ahead – and the games that will count toward MSU’s NCAA Tournament résumé – is the most important thing for Izzo.
“I 100% want him healthy,” he said. “So if I get word that it could linger, I’m not playing him. I don’t see that right now. …I’m just worried about his health, and he’s good.
“He’s tough enough. He played half the game with it. If I thought then that it was that bad, I would’ve taken him out then. But they said that he was OK.”
Even with it being an exhibition game, Fears said rolling ankles “is nothing, it’s basketball.”
“The next day was a little sore obviously from the night before,” he said. “But I’m two days removed from it, so I definitely feel a million times better. I can run, I can jump, I can do everything on it.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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Next up: Golden Eagles
Matchup: No. 6 Michigan State (27-8 in 2025-26) at Marquette (12-20 in 2025-26); exhibition finale.
Tipoff: 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25; Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee.
TV/radio: YouTube (online only); WJR-AM (760).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jeremy Fears injury update: MSU G feels 'a million times better'