Shields, White Honored at Night at the Lied

Husker basketball players Shavon Shields and Andrew White III were among the student-athletes recognized at a Night at the Lied Sunday evening.

Shields was selected as the University of Nebraska Male Student-Athlete of the Year and Big Ten Medal of Honor winner, becoming the program’s first Male Student-Athlete of the Year since the award started in 1991. White was chosen as the top male newcomer of the year across Husker Athletics and was also selected as a Nebraska Student-Athlete Hero Leadership Award winner.

Shields is a four-year starter and earned second-team All-Big Ten honors in 2016, marking the second time in his career he has earned All-Big Ten honors. A three-year captain, Shields finished his career on the top-10 list in six school categories. In the classroom, he is a two-time first-team CoSIDA Academic All-American, becoming the only player in program history to earn that distinction. He is the only men’s basketball student-athlete in Division I to be a first-team selection in both 2015 and 2016. A three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, Shields was also one of five Division I players named to the 2016 Allstate NABC Good Works Team for his community outreach. Shields will graduate next month with a degree in biological sciences.

As Nebraska’s Male Student-Athlete of the Year, he is also the recipient of Nebraska’s Big Ten Medal of Honor recipient in 2016. 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 from the graduating class of each university who had "attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work." Big Ten schools currently feature more than 9,500 students competing in intercollegiate athletics, but only 28 earn this prestigious award on an annual basis. In more than 100 years of the Big Ten Medal of Honor, almost 1,400 students have earned this distinction.

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 from the graduating class of each university who had "attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work." Big Ten schools currently feature more than 9,500 students competing in intercollegiate athletics, but only 28 earn this prestigious award on an annual basis. In more than 100 years of the Big Ten Medal of Honor, almost 1,400 students have earned this distinction.

Andrew White III was honored as the men’s Male Newcomer of the Year, as he garnered All-Big Ten honors by averaging 16.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. White ranked among the Big Ten leaders in scoring, rebounding and 3-point percentage. White was one of 14 Husker players named to the Tom Osborne Citizenship Team for efforts in the Huskers’ Life Skills program.