OU Basketball: Jeremiah Fears Earns Second SEC Freshman of Week Honor

Fears combined for 49 points in the Sooners' wins against Michigan and Central Arkansas last week.

Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

NORMAN — For the second time of the 2024-25 season, Jeremiah Fears is the SEC Freshman of the Week.

The guard, who turned 18 years old in October, played well above his age in the Sooners’ 87-86 win against Michigan at the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte.

Fears scored 30 points on the night, logging 20 of them in the second half. The freshman converted on a 4-point play with 11 seconds remaining, which was enough to give the Sooners their one-point win.

Oklahoma faced two separate 11-point deficits in that contest, and Fears is a major reason why the Sooners overcame them.

'Jeremiah Special': Oklahoma G Jeremiah Fears Reflects on Game-Winning 4, Undefeated Start

“We just continued to fight throughout the game,” Fears told 107.7 The Franchise after the Michigan game. “They threw punches, they went on a lot of runs, and I think we just stuck together and came out on top.”

Fears didn’t hit a game-winner in OU’s second game of the week — an 89-66 win against Central Arkansas on Sunday — but he didn’t need to. He still logged 19 points, which was the second highest total on the team.

The freshman is Oklahoma’s leader in points, assists and steals per game, averaging 18, 4.7 and 2.2 in those categories, respectively. Fears has reached double figures in all 12 games of his college career thus far.

“He’s a humble kid,” Oklahoma coach Porter Moser said after the Michigan game. “He’s giving glory to his teammates and God. I’m happy for him.”

Fears was ranked as the No. 24 overall prospect in the class of 2025 by ESPN but reclassified to the 2024 class during the summer. He committed to Oklahoma in July and arrived in Norman a month later.

Fears has been an instrumental piece to Oklahoma’s hot start.

The Sooners (12-0) have taken down six opponents — Providence, Arizona, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma State and Michigan — from power conferences. Both Arizona and Michigan were ranked by the AP Top 25 poll at the time of OU’s games against them.

Oklahoma will play one more non-conference game — at home against Prairie View A&M on Dec. 29 — before beginning its first season of SEC conference play. The Sooners’ first conference game is at Alabama on Jan. 4.