Oklahoma star freshman guard Jeremiah Fears has been listed as questionable on the SEC Availability Report ahead of Saturday’s matchup against No. 4 Tennessee (11:00 AM, ESPN) due to a knee/thigh injury sustained late in the second half of Tuesday night’s game against Auburn.
Fears, one of the SEC’s top freshmen, is averaging 15.9 points, 4.2 assists, and 3.8 rebounds per game this season. Against Auburn — the game in which he suffered the injury — he finished with 10 points and three assists on 1-of-8 shooting in 25 minutes.
Just a week before the Tennessee matchup, Fears posted his best scoring performance in SEC play, dropping 21 points against Vanderbilt. He also tallied six rebounds and four assists while shooting an efficient 8-of-12 from the field.
Fears has a usage rate of 32.1%, ranking 20th nationally and first in the SEC. If he misses Saturday’s game, the Sooners won’t just have to replace their second-leading scorer — they’ll also be without their primary ball handler.
Two players, in particular, who will need to step up in his absence, if Fears were to miss, are Kobe Elvis and Dayton Forsythe.
The Sooners practiced without Fears on Thursday, and Porter Moser noted, “Kobe got a ton of reps. I’m counting on him. He’s an older guard in this game.
“He’s had great moments off the bench for us. I’m transparent with Kobe. It’s not easy—I’m not trying to mind-bend him and say, ‘Oh, this is going to be great.’ I’m just trying to say, ‘Hey, this is what’s going to be best for the team.’ We need you in a mature manner, this is what we need you to do.
“It’s not easy to do, but he’s been giving us some good things. We’re really going to need him against an older team, guards to come in and continue to be physical defensively. That’s the thing with Kobe, to continue to be physical defensively.”
Forsythe scored 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field last Saturday against Vanderbilt and followed that up with 13 points on Tuesday night at Auburn, despite shooting just 1-of-8 from the field.
Tennessee ranks No. 1 nationally in defensive efficiency, No. 1 in defensive effective field goal percentage, and No. 1 in opponent three-point percentage, holding teams to just 26.7% from beyond the arc.
Without their primary ball handler — and facing the nation’s top defense — the Sooners will need guards like Elvis, Forsythe, and Duke Miles to step up and create offensively if Fears is unable to play.
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