(Photo Credit: Oklahoma Athletics)
Nashville–When Oklahoma takes the floor there’s immediately one guy that stands out. It’s his upside-down headband. His silky smooth motion. His composure. Sooners’ freshman guard Jeremiah Fears just commands attention out there, and everywhere else.
The Oklahoma guard was the best player on the floor all night in Oklahoma’s 81-75 win over Georgia and you’d know it by the swarm of media at his locker. Porter Moser’s Sooners have a group of veteran guards as well as perhaps the SEC’s most underrated player in Jaylon Moore, but you’d never know it.
For one reason or another this “kid” just draws all the attention.
The 18-year old–who reclassified up into the 2024 class–was the hottest commodity at Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday. He went for 29 points on 8-for-16 shooting. He piqued Moser’s interest by skying for six rebounds. The “kid,” as senior guard Kobe Elvis calls him, has as clear of a path to the NBA of nearly anyone at the college level. Yet, he’s not doing too much in front of the crowd at his locker.
He’s just being himself. He’s respectful and looks you in the eye. He says he didn’t expect all of this, but phased by any of it.
“I wasn’t really looking forward to this,” Fears says, “But, it’s great.”
When you do what Fears has done this early, you’re bound to have situations like he ran into on Wednesday night. When you play with the confidence he does people will gravitate towards you, that just comes with the territory.
Fears doesn’t appear to yearn for the spotlight, though. He appears to be more simple than that. He just wants to keep doing what he’s doing. He doesn’t want to shortcut anything.
“Just trusting my work,” Fears said when explaining where his confidence comes from as an Oklahoma assistant offered an explanation in the distance.
“He works hit butt off,” the assistant said.
“I work out a lot,” Fears said. “I work so hard so it was just believing in myself.”
Watch Fears out there and he clearly believes in what he can do–whether he acts like it off the floor or not–he’s got swagger, he plays freely. He’s attempting things that most freshman college basketball players wouldn’t dare try.
Most wouldn’t ever give euro stepping through the lane a shot. They wouldn’t dare try to go to work in isolation on veteran Georgia guard Silas Demary in front of a late-night Bridgestone Arena crowd. They wouldn’t dare take 16 shots on a team full of veterans, either.
Fears does, though. That’s ok with his teammates.
“We always let him play his game, let him bring that fire, that swagger,” Oklahoma veteran guard Duke Miles said. “We just have to let him know that ‘you’re always gonna be the main piece, if something isn’t going you way, whether you have a few turnovers or you miss a few shots don’t hang your head.’”
For the most part, Fears doesn’t seem to have to worry about that. He plays like someone who has been around for a long time.
In a lot of ways, the Oklahoma freshman has.
“He’s never not been confident scoring,” Moser said. “But, I think some things are freeing up for him because he’s setting up other guys and now they can’t just load up on him.”
Fears comes from a basketball family that includes his father Jeremy, who played basketball at Ohio University as well as Bradley University. Fears’ brother Jeremy Jr. also plays college basketball for Michigan State.
All the years watching and absorbing the habits of his “basketball family” are paying off for the Oklahoma freshman. If there’s anything he appears to have learned, it’s that their hard work led them somewhere and his can, too.
He also learned that seeing them do things the right way is motivating to him. Watching his brother and father operate have made an impression on him. He’s seen the intensity they go about things with. He’s seen the devotion they have to what they do.
When Fears does something like he did on Wednesday he thinks about the example his family set.
“My parents and my older brother,” Fears said when asked what drives him. “Just watching them every single day go hard and put in the work and believe in themselves and I kind of just instill that in myself, as well.”
On Wednesday, Fears made his family–and Oklahoma–proud again as the Sooners kept moving in the SEC Tournament. The freshman guard continues to see his star rise more and more each day.
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