Fears Scores 24, Jervis 20 as No. 5 Michigan State Hits Record 18 3s in 106-72 Rout of Northern Iowa

Three days after beating Duke on a neutral floor in Chicago, Michigan State came home and turned the Breslin Center into a shooting gallery. The No. 5 Spartans hit 18 3-pointers, a program record, and buried Northern Iowa 106-72 on Friday night behind 24 points from Jeremy Fears Jr. and 20 from freshman Jasiah Jervis.

Fears missed one shot from the field all night. The preseason Big Ten Player of the Year went 6-of-7, 4-of-5 from deep and 8-of-9 at the line, handed out nine assists and did not commit a turnover in 28 minutes. Jervis was nearly as surgical, going 7-of-9 overall and 5-of-6 from 3. Jordan Scott and Coen Carr added 11 apiece, and Michigan State moved to 4-0 with its first 100-point game of the season.

Northern Iowa came to East Lansing averaging 92.7 points a game. It spent the evening chasing a team that was hotter, deeper and more physical.

Another Blitz Out of the Gate

If the opening minutes felt familiar, they should have. Eight days after Michigan State answered Toledo's opening basket with 17 straight points, the Spartans hit Northern Iowa with a 19-2 haymaker.

Scott splashed a 3 in the opening minute. Jervis followed with another. Carr made two free throws, then Fears hit back-to-back 3s, and before the Panthers could settle in, Scott connected again from deep to make it 19-2 with 14:41 left in the half. Five 3s in barely five minutes, from three different players. That is what this offense looks like when the ball is moving and the shots are falling.

Northern Iowa finally found some footing when Greyson Uelmen started attacking the rim. The junior guard, a North Dakota transfer who entered as the Panthers' leader in points, rebounds and assists, scored three layups in the half, and Jalen Wilson knocked down a 3. None of it dented the gap. Carlos Medlock Jr. answered with a 3, Jervis hit another and Fears drilled a fourth at 9:26. By the time Fears added two free throws at 7:42, the lead was 42-18, a full 24 points.

Then the whistles took over. The first half alone produced 33 fouls, and the game crawled through long stretches at the free throw line. Northern Iowa used that rhythm to its advantage, with Levi Valdo scoring on drives and Tate McCubbin hitting two 3s in the final four minutes. The Panthers scored 44 in the half, a number that would worry Tom Izzo on most nights, but Michigan State scored 59. Fears hit a jumper with eight seconds left to put the Spartans up 59-42, and McCubbin's two free throws made it 59-44 at the break.

The Panthers Push, the Spartans Pull Away

To Northern Iowa's credit, it came out of the locker room swinging. Uelmen scored a three-point play on the first possession of the second half, and McCubbin hit a 3 at the 18:07 mark to cut the lead to 62-51. An 11-point game against a top-five team on its home floor is about as good as it gets for a mid-major in November.

It did not last. Michigan State answered every Northern Iowa basket with a 3. Jervis hit two of them in the first two and a half minutes of the half. Fears added one at 16:02. Center Jesse McCulloch stepped out and buried one at 15:20, and Kur Teng followed with another at 13:54 to make it 74-58.

The Spartans followed with a 23-1 run midway through the half, and the lead swelled past 30. The deep reserves finished it off in front of a Military Appreciation Night crowd that stayed to watch the record fall.

Fears and Jervis, a Backcourt in Full Bloom

Fears has been the engine of this team since the day the season started. The redshirt junior entered the night averaging 14.3 points and 10.3 assists, and Friday was a reminder of how complete a game this point guard has. Fears scored at all three levels, got to the line nine times and never gave the ball away. Against Duke, the line was 18 points and 11 assists. Against Northern Iowa, it was 24 and 9.

The bigger development might be Jervis. The freshman shot 1-of-6 in the season opener, then scored a career-high 16 against Toledo and has not looked back. On Friday, Jervis set a new high with 20 points, added five rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block, and did it in just 23 minutes. Five 3s on six attempts is not a hot night. It is a statement about who this freshman is going to be.

The two of them combined for 44 points on 13-of-16 shooting, including 9-of-11 from 3.

Scott, the sophomore forward who has quietly been the Spartans' most versatile player, went 3-of-5 from deep on the way to 11 points and added five rebounds. Carr also scored 11, mostly at the line, going 7-of-8 there, and swatted two shots.

By the Numbers: Threes, Boards and a Fixed Free Throw Line

Michigan State shot 28-of-58 (48.3 percent) from the field and 18-of-37 (48.6 percent) from 3. Eighteen made 3s is the most in a game in program history, and the Spartans assisted on 24 of their 28 field goals. Ten of those 3s came in the first half alone, on 16 attempts. Fears and Medlock, who added four assists, kept the ball moving all night.

The glass belonged to the Spartans again. Michigan State outrebounded Northern Iowa 42-21, exactly double the Panthers' total. Cam Ward led the team with seven rebounds off the bench, and five other Spartans grabbed five apiece. Michigan State also blocked nine shots, with Ward, Carr, Ethan Taylor and Anton Bonke each recording two.

And then there is the free throw line, which had been a genuine problem in the first two games. Michigan State went 32-of-43 (74.4 percent) on Friday. That is a long way from the 60 percent nights that had Tom Izzo searching for answers earlier this month.

The bench outscored Northern Iowa's 40-29, led by Teng's eight and seven each from McCulloch and Kaleb Glenn. Twelve different Spartans scored. Michigan State also turned 15 Northern Iowa turnovers into 31 points, while the Panthers managed 14 off the Spartans' 13 giveaways.

There were blemishes. Northern Iowa won the paint 32-16, a warning sign before a trip to the SEC. Bonke, who started at center, played only eight minutes, going scoreless with three fouls and three turnovers, and Taylor picked up a technical foul off the bench.

What It Means for Northern Iowa

Northern Iowa falls to 2-2 under first-year coach Kyle Green, a former Iowa State assistant. The Panthers shot a respectable 25-of-59 (42.4 percent), but they made only 7 of 20 from 3 and turned it over 15 times.

Uelmen led the way with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting and five rebounds. Wilson and Valdo each scored 11 off the bench, with Valdo going 5-of-7. McCubbin finished with 11 on 3-of-5 from 3. The tough night belonged to Carson Vis, the Western Michigan transfer who entered shooting 47.1 percent from deep. Vis went 3-of-11 overall and 0-of-3 from 3 for seven points. Isaiah Johnson-Arigu and Ian Smikle both fouled out.

The Panthers went 23-13 last season and were picked 10th in the Missouri Valley by Blue Ribbon this year. Northern Iowa's next stop is Oakland.

This was only the second meeting between these programs. The first came in the 2010 Sweet 16 in St. Louis, where Michigan State won 59-52. This one was not nearly as close.

Next Up: No. 11 Tennessee

Michigan State is 4-0, and the résumé is already loaded. The Spartans opened by routing Quinnipiac 96-59, crushed Toledo 91-61, and then beat No. 2 Duke 79-73 in the Champions Classic. Friday was the third time in four games that the Spartans topped 90 points.

The next test is a serious one. Michigan State heads to Knoxville on Tuesday, Nov. 17, to face No. 11 Tennessee at 9 p.m. ET. The Vols will make the Spartans earn every possession.

The Take

Three games into the season, the question was whether Michigan State could shoot well enough to match its rebounding and depth. Friday answered it emphatically. When Fears is running the show without mistakes, Jervis is knocking down catch-and-shoot 3s and the bench is giving 40 points, this team does not have an obvious weakness. The free throw line looked better. The ball movement looked elite. The only real question left is how it travels. Knoxville will tell us.

Full stats are in Michigan State's official box score (opens in a new tab) and the CBS Sports box score (opens in a new tab), and the Spartans' game preview (opens in a new tab) has the pregame notes.

Sources: CBS Sports box score and play-by-play, Michigan State Athletics, Sports Illustrated, Spartan Avenue. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Matthew Mitchell Photography/Michigan State Athletics (file photo from Nov. 10, 2026, vs. Duke).