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OU freshman guard Jeremiah Fears learning to be physical

Bob Przybyloby:Bob Przybylo•about 9 hours•

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Jeremiah Fears19
OU guard Jeremiah Fears. (Bryan Terry - Imagn Images)

OU freshman Jeremiah Fears is not a small guard, looking at his size. Listed at 6-foot-4 and 182 pounds and probably still growing, he can hold his own.

He’s also learning quickly that’s what he’s going to have to do every single night in the SEC. Some rough learning experiences early brought that out in Fears on Wednesday night.

Fears has never had a problem being physical offensively. What he learned in a 77-73 loss to Texas, though? You can give it back just as much as you get it. Being physical on defense is allowed and even encouraged.

“A lot of things to build on with Jeremiah,” head coach Porter Moser said. “It was good to see his aggressiveness… The biggest takeaway I got from it is I thought he played his most aggressive defense of the year in the last 15 minutes.

“I think he learned the more physical I play, that’s when I don’t get a cheap foul. You can play physical and not get into foul trouble. I thought he played the best 15 minutes of defense he’s played all year. That’s something to build on. He was competitive. He was aggressive. The six turnovers, but man. It’s something to build on with him, for sure.”

Fears has not been made available to the media so far in 2025.

It was a different Fears, had to be. Coming off the worst game of his career, a 1-for-11 shooting night in a two-point effort and loss at Georgia, it was his first ‘figure it out’ moment. The first time he didn’t score at least 10 points in a game.

And he did figure it out. Fears made his first shot against Texas and everything was back on track. He finished the evening with 20 points, five rebounds, two steals and two assists. And six turnovers, can’t forget about them.

Moser has done a solid job of accepting some of those turnovers as learning opportunities for Fears. Turnovers don’t put Fears on the bench, lack of effort will.

Fears brought the effort and much better execution against the Longhorns. If Fears can find that defensive intensity on a consistent basis? No telling what his ceiling can be.

As for OU? It’s obvious how different this team is when Fears is rolling. It was too little too late against Texas in trying to erase a 23-point second half deficit. But if that rough evening leads to Fears and crew learning? Could be, in the end, worth it.

“Our ceiling’s higher when he’s playing well,” Moser said. “I said it’s not on him to help turn it, it’s on us. We’re in this together with him and with all of them. And for him just to talk, show more film, show things in his head about talking about being aggressive, going downhill, making the right basketball play.

“And that’s part of the maturation process is making the right basketball play. Sometimes it is. He came in there and I think he kicked it out to Jalon Moore one time when they drew like three. That’s the right basketball play. So with that, for him to get some confidence after the first three, that was good to see. That was good to see from him.”

Fears hopes to keep it going as OU desperately needs to get right again. The Sooners (13-4, 0-4) host South Carolina (10-7, 0-4) at 3 p.m. Saturday on ESPNU.

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