Purdue senior basketball players Robbie Hummel and Brittany Rayburn have been named the school’s winners of the Big Ten Medal of Honor for the 2011-12 academic year.
The Big Ten Conference endowed a Medal of Honor in 1914 to be awarded annually at each university to the student-athlete demonstrating the greatest proficiency in scholarship and athletics. Beginning in 1982, the award went coed as each school named a male and female student-athlete.
Hummel is one of just six three-time All-Americans in Purdue men’s basketball history, earning second-team honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) in 2010 in addition to honorable mention accolades from the Associated Press in both 2010 and 2012.
He was named a first-team All-Big Ten selection in 2012 for the third time in his career, making him just the seventh Boilermaker to earn three nods to the league’s top squad. He is also one of just three players in program history, along with Paul Hoffman and close friend E’Twaun Moore, to garner All-Big Ten honors in each of his four seasons.
The Valparaiso, Ind., native battled injuries to lead the Boilermakers to four NCAA Tournament appearances and more than 100 wins during his collegiate tenure. He played in 95 victories in a Purdue uniform, tied for fifth on the program’s career chart.
Hummel was named the team’s John Wooden Most Valuable Player in 2012 after leading the Boilers in scoring, rebounds and blocked shots. His average of 16.4 points ranked fourth in the Big Ten, while his marks of 7.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per outing ranked fourth and sixth in the conference, respectively.
Hummel finished his career ranked ninth in program history in scoring with 1,772 points, tied for fourth in rebounds with 862, fourth in three-point field goals with 216 and seventh in blocks with 112.
The three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree was also the winner of the 2012 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, becoming the first Boilermaker to garner the prestigious award celebrating excellence in the classroom, community, competitive arena and character.
Rayburn capped off her highly accomplished Purdue career by leading the Boilermakers to a 25-9 record this season, highlighted by the 2012 Big Ten Tournament championship and a return to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. She was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Big Ten Tournament after averaging 17.3 points and 4.0 rebounds in the three wins. Rayburn tied a tournament record by hitting seven three-pointers against Michigan State in the quarterfinals and hit the game-winning shot with less than two seconds remaining against Penn State to advance to the title game against Nebraska.
Rayburn earned second team All-Big Ten after leading the Boilermakers in scoring for a third straight year, averaging 14.8 points per game. With 201 career three-pointers, she is second all-time at Purdue for made threes and on Jan. 12, broke the school and Big Ten record and tied the NCAA record by hitting 12 three-pointers at Minnesota, a game in which she scored a career-high 38 points. Rayburn was named to the Naismith Player of the Year midseason 32 list and participated in the State Farm Women's 3-Point Contest in New Orleans. The Attica, Ind., native leaves Purdue having amassed 1,795 career points, 427 rebounds, 248 assists and 151 steals.
This year, the three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree earned second team Academic All-America honors and also was a finalist for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award in recognition of her leadership, academic commitment and community service activities. Rayburn is a member of Purdue’s Mortar Board, is a two-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, will graduate in May with over a 3.7 GPA in animal sciences.
Rayburn has been invited to training camp by the 2011 WNBA Champion Minnesota Lynx and will head to Minneapolis on April 29 to try to secure a roster spot. She has a decent back up plan if professional basketball does not work out for her. Rayburn has been accepted into Purdue’s School of Veterinary Medicine.