Michigan State Men's Basketball: Jeremy Fears Jr., Jaxon Kohler earn Big Ten honors
Jeremy Fears Jr. is the first Spartan to receive first-team All-Big honors since Cassius Winston in 2019 and 2020. Read more here.
Michigan State redshirt sophomore point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. and senior forward Jaxon Kohler have earned All-Big Ten honors for the 2025-2026 season, the conference announced Tuesday. Fears has received consensus first-team accolades from both the conference's coaches and media members, while Kohler is an honorable mention selection (by both the coaches and media).
Fears started all 31 regular-season games for the Spartans during the 2025-2026 campaign and leads MSU in minutes played (990 total minutes played, 31.9 minutes per game). He averages 15.5 points (leads team), 9.1 assists (leads team), 2.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. Fears leads the entire country in assists per game (with the aforementioned 9.1), total assists (281) and assist percentage (52.2%). Fears shots 44.3% from the field overall, 30.9% from 3-point distance and 89% from the free-throw line.
Fears is the first Spartan to receive first-team All-Big honors since Cassius Winston, who accomplished that feat in back-to-back seasons in 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. Fears is just 11 assists away from breaking Winston's single-season program record of 291 assists, which was set during the 2018-2019 campaign. Fears is also 33 assists away from breaking the Big Ten’s single-season assists record, which currently belongs to Purdue's Braden Smith at 313.
Joining Fears on the All-Big Ten first team for the 2025-2026 season is Yaxel Lendeborg (Michigan, selected by coaches and media, Bennett Stirtz (Iowa, selected by media), Pryce Sandfort (Nebraska, selected by coaches), Braden Smith (Purdue, selected by coaches and media) and Keaton Wagler (Illinois, selected by coaches and media).
Lendeborg was also named as the consensus Big Ten Player of the Year.
Kohler started all 31 games for Michigan State this season, and plays 27.8 minutes per game. He averages 12.8 points per game (second on the team) and leads the Spartans in rebounding with 9.1 boards per game (283 total). Kohler also averages 1.3 assists per game. He shoots 51.4% from the floor, 39.5% from 3-point range and 86.5% on free throws.
Additionally, center Carson Cooper is Michigan State's representative for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
Michigan State finished the 2025-2026 regular season with an overall record of 25-6 and a mark of 15-5 in Big Ten play. Next up, the Spartans will play in the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 3-seed on Friday night in Chicago. The opponent is to be determined, but it will be one of No. 14 seed Rutgers, No. 11-seed Minnesota or No. 6-seed UCLA.
