On Sunday afternoon, No. 13 Michigan State scraped past Ohio State, a team fighting for a final spot in the NCAA tournament. Sunday night, Michigan State men’s basketball players held a player-only meeting to discuss the importance of playing their best basketball in the final month.

Tuesday afternoon, the team spoke with the media before heading to No. 8 Purdue for an important top-15 matchup that could greatly affect seeding in the Big Ten tournament, Thursday, Feb. 26, at 8 p.m. on Peacock.

Head coach Tom Izzo said he gave his players “bullet points on things that I think they had to talk about,” but wasn’t in the room to know specifics. 

“I don't know what came out of it, that's the beauty of it,” Izzo said. “I shouldn't know what comes out of it; that's between them."

Sophomore guard Jeremy Fears Jr. has made his mark as one of four captains, not only by making plays on the court but also by becoming a true player-coach. Fears has been a difference-maker in Jordan Scott’s confidence during his first few starts. After Michigan State’s win against Illinois, the sophomore point guard said he and the other captains were helping Scott handle the nerves of playing in such a big moment.

“He's a freshman, he got a little sped up, got nervous a little bit, but I try to talk to him,” Fears said. “Coen [Carr], [Carson] Cooper, Jaxon [Kohler], and I try to calm him down a little bit.”

As for the team’s meeting on Sunday night, Fears didn’t let on much, but said he knows everyone on the team is capable of improving their play greatly before the season is over. Currently, MSU’s four captains, Fears, Kohler, Cooper and Carr, lead in scoring, all eclipsing 10 points a game. Fears said he wants everyone else to keep moving up, too.

“Everybody is valuable, everybody brings something, and can help the team a lot,” Fears said. “Overall understanding that there’s always more work to be done. You can continue getting better at whatever stage you are in, whether you're a senior like Coop, you're a freshman like Jordan, or you're kind of in the middle like me, Jesse [McCulloch] and Kur [Teng].”

In November, freshman Cam Ward suffered a minor wrist injury, which coach Tom Izzo says he’s still managing at times. Against Ohio State, Ward was the only bench player besides Kur Teng to score, finishing with four points. Izzo said he wants Ward to play with even more aggression and “recklessness” as the season continues.

Ward echoed the sentiment after meeting with Coach Izzo Monday night. The hard-nosed freshman said he wants to play more free and loose.