Tyra Buss Ending IU Career in Style

By Josh Eastern

Following Wednesday’s game at Penn State when IU senior guard Tyra Buss broke the all-time scoring record, she was feeling down as her team dropped a tough game on the road.

IU dropped to 0-3 in the Big Ten, but that’s when IU coach Teri Moren had to go talk to her star guard. Moren talked with Buss about how special of a milestone she broke. The scoring record had stood for nearly 34 years at Indiana. Once Moren talked with Buss, the senior realized how special it was.

Then Saturday at Assembly Hall, Buss was honored before the game against Purdue before the game. Even still, the competitor in Buss sparked up again. She said the moment was special, but all she wanted to do was play the game.

“I was appreciative of that and honored, but my focus was to play the basketball game, to win the basketball game,” Buss said. “Yeah, that was nice and I was excited that my parents were able to walk me out and be out there with me for that special moment, but I was just ready to play the game and to get going with my team, get back on the floor and play.”

Buss has become quite the player in her four seasons at Indiana. She has experienced a good amount of change in the process too. She arrived the same year Moren did. Then in the following years, the roster experienced quite a bit of changeover.

The Hoosiers did make the NCAA Tournament in Buss’s second year in Bloomington. A season ago it was a near miss. But through it all, Buss has had one player by her side the whole way. That would be senior forward Amanda Cahill. Cahill said it has been awesome to have her as a teammate.

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“Not only is she a really good player, but we’ve been through a lot together,” Cahill said. “This is our fourth year and we’ve played every game together, so I’m just looking forward to the rest of this year, going out and battling each and every game with her.”

The scoring record isn’t the last record that Buss could break at Indiana. She is nearing the record for most steals and assists. The senior has scored 600 points in two straight seasons for the first time in program history, was the fastest IU player ever to score 1,000 points and has the record for free throws made and attempted.

The list goes on and on.

But Saturday in Assembly Hall was something special. A player who has given so much to Bloomington was able to see the appreciation the fans had for her. Nearly an hour after the game, there was still a long line waiting for their chance to meet Buss.

The crowd was fired up to see her play and she brought it on the court for the Hoosiers to cap off a big week.

“I’m not surprised in the least bit in the reaction that they gave her (Buss),” Moren said. “She deserved it. It’s special any time you can become the all-time leading scorer at this level.”