Jeremy Fears Jr. takes flight as Michigan State basketball tops Oregon

EUGENE, OR — The Pacific Northwest feels like another world in many ways. And for Michigan State basketball, it brought out plenty of qualities Tom Izzo might have felt were as mythical as a Sasquatch.

Coen Carr hitting 3-pointers? Carson Cooper carrying the offense? Trey Fort delivering one big shot after another?

With Jeremy Fears Jr. and Jaxon Kohler struggling as mightily as they had all year?

Consider it a newfound discovery, down the Oregon Trail.

Cooper scored a career high 19 points with seven rebounds, Carr drained a career-best three 3-pointers among his 15 points (to go with eight boards), and Fort emerged from a long drought with nine critical points as the 10th-ranked Spartans shook off a sludgy start en route to a 68-52 win over Oregon on Tuesday, Jan. 20, at Matthew Knight Arena.

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Fears finished with 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting after an ugly start, and Kohler managed just two points on 1-for-3 shooting but grabbed five boards as the Spartans finished with a 31-25 rebounding edge.

MSU outscored Oregon 30-13 over the final 13-plus minutes after the Ducks had their biggest lead of the game.

MSU (17-2, 7-1 Big Ten) is a win away from equaling its 18-2 start of a year ago, with a visit from Maryland ahead Saturday (noon, CBS) before the Spartans return to the road on the other coast, at Rutgers next week.

Takai Simpkins scored 15 points with seven rebounds for injury-depleted Oregon (8-11, 1-7), which entered without Nate Bittle and Jackson Shelstad then lost big man Ege Demir to a shoulder injury in the second half. No other Duck scored in double figures, and MSU held Oregon to just 7-for-20 from 3-point range.

Offensively discombobulated

MSU opened with a strong surge, including an 11-0 run, and looked to be poised to take control as Fears got the transition game going on the back of strong defensive rebounding.

Cooper had a pair of baskets in the paint, where eight early points came for the Spartans. Carr drained a 3-pointer after missing a pair of free throws. When Cooper got hacked and hit two at the line, MSU led 13-4 just 5:19 into the game.

It changed quickly as Oregon packed the paint and started running double teams at MSU’s post players. That challenged the Spartans to shoot more from the outside. It didn’t faze Carr, who hit a second 3-pointer and a foul-line jumper and eight points at the break on 3-of-5 shooting. And Cooper continued to hit midpaint shots, finishing with nine points in the half and combining with Carr for 10 rebounds.

But Kohler played just 7 minutes after picking up two fouls. Fears was 1-for-6 and missed both his 3-point attempts, struggling to generate foul-worthy contact. And Oregon’s defense pestered the point guard and MSU’s offense into four shot-clock violations, including one as time expired at halftime. The Spartans clung to a 28-26 lead as the Ducks overcame early shooting woes to hit four 3-pointers and get 10 points from Simpkins at the half.

Fort, the sixth-year senior, buried a pair of midrange jumpers late in the first half to help MSU shake its offensive stagnancy, and Divine Ugochukwu hit a 3-pointer that gave the Spartans the slight cushion.

Alternate Big 3

Oregon almost dared Carr to beat them with his shooting. The same with Fears. Fort? He seemed to be an afterthought on the Ducks’ scouting report.

Then as Oregon continued to mix in zone defenses to frustrate MSU on the perimeter early in the second half, forcing Carr and Fears to shoot from long range, Carr drained his career-best third 3-pointer early in the period. Cooper continued to assert himself in the paint with Kohler drawing attention. And then Fort continued to make the Ducks pay for neglecting him, hitting another free throw-line jumper and following it with a 3-pointer.

That 3 from Fort made it 42-38. Oregon pulled within a point from there, but  Carr and Cooper helped the Spartans pull away with an 18-3 run that included two layups for Carr – one off the dribble – and a midrange baseline jumper from Cooper. Fears finally caught fire, hitting a 3-pointer with 5:19 left to put MSU up 60-44 and had six more points after that. He scored 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting with four assists after halftime.

What’s next

After an overnight, cross-country return flight, the Spartans make a brief stopover at Breslin Center for a nationally televised Saturday matinee with Maryland. The Terrapins (8-10, 1-6) have a short turnaround after Wednesday night’s road game at No. 11 Illinois. First-year coach Buzz Williams snapped a four-game losing streak Sunday at home as Maryland defeated Penn State, 96-73, for its first Big Ten victory.

Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari. 

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball sweeps out West with 2nd-half rout of Oregon