Indiana’s Buss & Eustace Earn Big Ten Medal of Honor
Hoosier duo joins elite company as part of 104th Big Ten Medal of Honor class
April 24, 2018
ROSEMONT, Ill. — As the Big Ten continues its celebration for the 104th class of the Big Ten Medal of Honor, Indiana announced that Tyra Buss of the women’s basketball program and Laren Eustace of the baseball team have been named the Hoosiers’ 2017-18 Big Ten Medal of Honor recipients. The pair was honored at the eighth-annual Spirit of Indiana Showcase on Monday, at the Indiana University Auditorium.
Buss broke school records in points scored, steals, assists, free throws made, free throw attempts, 3-pointers attempted, and career points per game. She finished the season as the nation’s leader in minutes played and minutes played per game. Her 20.6 points per game was 21st in the nation and finished 7th overall in points scored (763). Ranked top 10 in the nation in free throws attempted (5th, 259) and free throws made (10th). Buss earned Academic All-Big Ten honors for the third time in her career.
Eustace, a senior, has played in 142 career games for the Hoosiers, making 57 starts. He has tallied 14 extra-base hits in his career, including three home runs, two triples, and nine doubles. In addition to his 50 runs scored and 25 career RBI, the Batavia, Ill.- native has tallied 19 stolen bases and a .991 fielding percentage. Eustace is majoring in business at Indiana.
The Big Ten, the nation’s oldest collegiate conference, commemorates the 104th anniversary of a very unique tradition – the Big Ten Medal of Honor. The conference’s most exclusive award was the first of its kind in intercollegiate athletics to recognize academic and athletic excellence. The Big Ten Medal of Honor was first awarded in 1915 to one student-athlete from the graduating class of each university who had “attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work.” Big Ten schools currently feature almost 9,500 student-athletes, but only 28 earn this prestigious award on an annual basis. In the 104 years of the Medal of Honor, almost 1,400 student-athletes have earned this distinction.
