For Sooner opponents, there is nothing to fear but Jeremiah Fears himself
18-year-old's heroics against Wolverines highlight the highest of ceilings
On the day John Mateer, Washington State’s fall semester quarterback, chose to become Oklahoma’s spring semester and thereafter quarterback, following offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle from Pullman to Norman, an 18-year-old basketball player stole the Sooner show.
If you make Oklahoma Columnist destination reading, you can guess who we’re talking about, but if you failed to watch ESPN2 well past 10 p.m. last night, you missed the heroics.
Though Michigan led for 31:36 of its Jumpman Invitational 40-minute foray and OU just 5:48, only the final 11 seconds mattered.
That was the time remaining when Jeremiah Fears, moving right to left well above the top of the key, received Sam Godwin’s pass from the high post, took one dribble, stopped and popped from a good five feet beyond the 3-point arc, swishing what would soon become a four-point play to clip the Wolverines 87-86.
His shot flew over the outstretched arm of 7-foot Michigan center Danny Wolf and was off too quickly for Wolverine guard Howard Eisley to bother it, making Eisley’s post-release contact — see picture above — right on time for Fears, sending him to the free-throw line to score the game’s final point.
No, he’s still not the perfect freshman ballplayer.
Prior to the 11-seconds-left fireworks, Fears committed two of his five turnovers on OU’s previous two trips down the floor, which were not timely at all, the Sooners having taken their first lead since the opening minutes with 5:51 remaining on a Duke Miles 3 that made it 76-74, a lead kept until 2:12 remained.
Still, it’s the stuff legends are made of, and it’s so much fun watching Fears do it because he does it in ways you might never imagine when you see him standing still.
He doesn’t have the low-post bounce Wayman Tisdale had upon arrival from Booker T. Washington in 1982. Nor the jump-out-of-the-gym athleticism of Blake Griffin when he arrived from Oklahoma Christian School in 2007, nor the grown man’s physique Buddy Hield brought with him from Wichita’s Sunrise Christian Academy in 2012.
What Fears has, however, is a fully formed offensive game, polished with a feel no coach can teach.
Earlier in the contest, two other shots told the story.
One, a driving floater in a tight game that made every basket crucial, Fears beat his defender with a crossover, leaving him behind in the paint, yet rather than take the ball all the way to the glass where he’d be forced dish wide or get his shot blocked, he beat the Wolverine trees to the punch, putting it up, over and in before they could come out to meet him and without grazing iron.
Sam Godwin couldn’t do that Wednesday night, nor could Jalon Moore, OU’s leading scorer prior to the game but not after, that honor now belonging to Fears, who who didn’t turn 18 until Oct. 14, who victimized Michigan for 30 points on 8-of-12 shooting, 3-of-4 3-point shooting and 11-of-13 foul shooting.
The other shot required focus to fully appreciate.
Fears found a lane toward the basket, driving from the right side, dribbling with his right hand as one does in that spot, the defense typically between the driver and the hoop, before calling an audible as he leaped toward the backboard.
It was only then, subtly and smoothly realizing the help defense was coming from his right, Fears transferred the ball into his left hand and scooped it off the glass where it couldn’t possibly be blocked, and it wasn’t just that he did it with an otherworldly awareness other players don’t have, but that he made it look entirely easy, as if to say, “well, of course I have to switch hands here, why wouldn’t I, it makes it so much easier, who wouldn’t.”
What it was, was poetry.
Of course, it wasn’t ALL him.
Moore, who could get little going in the first half, survived foul trouble most of the second when he scored 10 of his 16 points after Michigan (8-3) pushed its edge to 11 points less than 5 minutes out of intermission.
Miles came up big, too, netting 17 points, including 3-of-6 3-point shooting and Glenn Taylor helped keep the Sooners kicking in the first half, scoring all nine of his points. And anytime a Porter Moser coached team pops off 49 second-half points to win by one, you know a lot of guys are doing a lot of things right to make it happen.
Still, it’s about the kid.
Fears lists at 6-4, 182 pounds, though I’m not sure either of those figures are correct.
Nonetheless, on a night none of his teammates played more than 29 minutes, and that was Taylor off the bench, Fears played 34 because already he’s OU’s most necessary player.
On the days he struggles, and he’s bound to occasionally, it’s good Kobe Elvis found his way to Norman, too, and that Moore’s always capable of posting 20 plus.
But it’s Fears who can make the Sooners (11-0) great and it’s Fears who’s capable of pulling victory from the jaws of defeat.
He did it against the Wolverines.
Mateer, we can all hope, will become a terrific Sooner quarterback.
Should he wind up in the neighborhood of the teenage point guard on the basketball team, he ought to be fine.