When Sabrina Ionescu announced after last season’s Final Four that she would return to the University of Oregon for her senior season, fans of women’s college basketball became giddy.
That meant more neck-breaking assists, more silky 3-pointers, more cold-blooded clutch moments and more viral highlights from the Ducks’ star in the 2019-20 season.
The 21-year-old Ionescu is one of the most electric players in all of basketball, the epitome of can’t-miss and must-watch performances. She’s a two-time Nancy Lieberman Award winner, a two-time Pac-12 Player of the Year, the winner of the Wooden and Wade awards, and already the NCAA’s all-time leader in career triple-doubles. And she’s a near-lock to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft.
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But before then, Ionescu has one more season to play at Oregon. Last year, the Ducks came up just short of winning it all, losing in the Final Four to eventual champion Baylor. This season, Ionescu and the Ducks have their sights set on New Orleans and getting back to the biggest stage in the sport.
All season long, we’ll be cataloging Ionescu’s best moments on this Sabrina Tracker. We’ll keep you updated with her stats, her highlights, her records and her viral moments.
"She's a legend in her own right."
— AJ McCord (@AJ_McCord)
Hey - this one's for you & the rest of , from as you chase and keep making history
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Sabrina's senior season
Feb. 24, 2020: A new club all to herself. Ionescu became the first Division I player in men's or women's history to reach 2,000 points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds. History was made with a third-quarter rebound, her ninth of the night and 1,000th of her career, against Pac-12 rival Stanford.
She finished with her 26th career triple-double — her eighth this year, tying her own NCAA single-season record — with 21 points, 12 assists and 12 rebounds. With the 74-66 win, Oregon clinched a share of the Pac-12 regular season title for the third straight season.
Feb. 21, 2020: The National Player of the Year contender was at it again. The Oregon guard posted the 25th triple double of her career, finishing with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in a 93-61 victory over California.
Make it 17 points, 11 boards and 11 assists for 👊
— Oregon Women’s Basketball (@OregonWBB)
Ducks lead 85-53 with under five minutes to play. |
Feb. 14, 2020: The Ducks' superstar notched her 1,000th career assist against the UCLA Bruins, becoming just the fifth player in history to do so.
1⃣0⃣0⃣0⃣!! finds for three, and Ionescu is just the fifth player in history to reach 1,000 career assists, and only the second player EVER to have 2,000+ points and 1,000+ assists! |
— Oregon Women’s Basketball (@OregonWBB)
Feb. 7, 2020: Ionescu recorded her 24th career triple-double, and sixth for the season in a 85-52 win over No. 12 Arizona at home. The senior had 15 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
Feb. 3, 2020: The Ducks made history in a top-5 meeting at UConn, breezing by the No. 4 Huskies 74-56 for the program's first win in four all-time head-to-head meetings. Ionescu finished with 10 points (4-of-12-shooting), nine rebounds and nine assists, nearly adding to her record triple-double count.
Jan. 24, 2020: Another day, another milestone. Ionescu surpassed Gary Payton for the Pac-12's all-time men's and women's assists record with this pocket pass to Ruthy Hebard, who scored on a floater.
. assists on the first bucket of the game and she has officially passed Gary Payton for the Pac-12 all-time men's and women's assists record with 939! 👏 |
— Oregon Women’s Basketball (@OregonWBB)
Jan. 16, 2020: The Oregon legend now adds more career accomplishments to her long list of accolades, becoming Oregon's all-time leading scorer with 2,265 points in a career-high 37-point performance to beat No. 3 Stanford, 87-55.
With a career-high 37 points in Thursday's win over Stanford, Sabrina Ionescu became Oregon's all-time leading scorer - women's & men's basketball - with 2,265 career points.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo)
Alison Lang had the old mark of 2,252 points. Ron Lee is the Ducks' men's leader with 2,085 points.
Jan. 12, 2020: With her 22nd triple double of the season, Ionescu helped charge the Ducks to a 71-64 win over No. 18 Arizona. Her 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 17 points, while going 7-for-7 at the free throw line, helped Oregon grind out a tough victory on the road.
The best part of that game? Ionescu didn't even realize she had another triple-double.
Sabrina surprising herself with another triple double is one of the many reasons she’s the best 😂
— WSLAM (@wslam)
(via )
Jan. 5, 2020: Ionescu finished with 17 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and one steal in the Ducks' 88-51 victory over Utah. She shot 6-for-13 from the floor in 28 minutes of action.
Jan. 3, 2020: On a Friday night in Eugene, Ionescu recorded her 900th assist, making her the 12th player in NCAA women's basketball history to do so. In that same game, the Ducks would go on to beat Colorado 104- 46.
9⃣0⃣0⃣! becomes just the 12th player in @ncaawbb HISTORY to reach 900 career assists 👊
— Oregon Women’s Basketball (@OregonWBB)
Dec. 21, 2019: It took only three quarters for Ionescu to notch her 21st career triple-double in Oregon's 89-51 victory over Kansas State. This was the third time in her career that she recorded a double-double in back-to-back games. Ionescu finished with 21 points (8-of-13 from the floor), 11 assists and 10 rebounds.
Back-to-back lay-ins for 💪
— Oregon Women’s Basketball (@OregonWBB)
Ducks are on a 6-0 run and lead 46-31.
Dec. 16, 2019: Ionescu recorded her 20th career triple-double in an 84-41 win over UC Riverside, finishing with 16 points, 12 assists and a career-best 18 rebounds. She finished 7-of-16 from the floor and also chipped in two steals and a block.
Dec. 8, 2019: The records keep falling. Ionescu reached two more milestones in the Ducks' dominating 95-56 win over South Dakota State: her 109th double-figure scoring game and 285th 3-pointer of her career, both Oregon program records. Ionescu finished with 12 points, 11 assists, seven rebounds and a steal.
Give 10 points now for her 109th career double-figure scoring game, breaking the Oregon all-time record!
— Oregon Women’s Basketball (@OregonWBB)
She has also broken the UO all-time three-pointer record with two so far today, giving her 285 for her career 🔥
Ducks lead 61-30.
Nov. 16, 2019: Ionescu extended her NCAA record for career triple-doubles in the Ducks' 99-63 win over Texas Southern, tallying 10 points, 13 rebounds and 14 assists. It was the 19th of her career and the first of likely many more to come this season.
Nov. 13, 2019: Welcome to the 2,000-point club, Sabrina Ionescu. She became the fourth Duck in history to reach the plateau on a top-of-the-key 3 against Utah State. She finished with 16 points (6-of-13 shooting), 12 assists and nine rebounds in a 109-52 Oregon rout.
Also in the victory, Ionescu passed the 800-assists mark for her career, making her just the fifth player -- men or women -- in Pac-12 history to do so. Former Oregon State and NBA star Gary Payton holds the conference's assist record at 938. Ionescu doled out 311 assists last season, so it's absolutely possible for her to surpass "The Glove" in passing this season.
. with a pair of dimes to !
— Oregon Women’s Basketball (@OregonWBB)
10 assists now for Ionescu to go with 9 points and 7 rebounds...
Nov. 9, 2019: This doesn't count in the standings, but Ionescu led the Ducks to a historic upset of the U.S. women's national team, 93-86. Oregon became only the second college team to beat the national team, joining Tennessee in 1999. The guard scored 30 points on 10-for-20 shooting and added seven assists and four rebounds.
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Where we left off: 2018-19
Nov. 18, 2018: Ionescu connected on one shot from the floor as Oregon beat Buffalo 102-82 in Eugene. However, she hit nine free throws, dished out 10 assists and grabbed 10 rebounds, giving her the 12th triple-double of her career, which tied the NCAA record.
Dec. 2, 2018: Ionescu sets the Oregon single-game assists record, dishing out 17 in a win over Long Beach State.
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Dec. 20, 2018: About a month after tying the triple-double record, Ionescu broke it. In a dominant defensive effort from the Ducks, Oregon beat Air Force 82-36, and Ionescu dropped 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds.
Jan. 12, 2019: In a blowout win over USC – in which the Ducks won 93-53 in Los Angeles – Ionescu notched seven assists, which pushed her past 608 for her career, giving her the ownership of Oregon’s career assists record. She also had 17 points, four steals and four rebounds in the game.
Sabrina Ionescu is a BUCKET.
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport)
18th career triple-double 😳
29 PTS
10 REBS
12 ASTS
3 STLS
(via @ncaawbb)
March 31, 2019: After back-to-back trips to the Elite Eight, the Ducks finally got over the hump and made it to the Final Four, beating Mississippi State 88-84. Ionescu put up 31 points on 12-of-20 shooting from the floor and also had seven rebounds and eight assists in a 40-minute effort.
SABRINA IONESCU WITH THE 4-POINT PLAY!
— ESPN (@espn)
Year | PPG | RPG | APG | Steals | FG% | FT% | 3pt% |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
16-17 | 14.6 | 6.6 | 5.5 | 44 | .390 | .825 | .420 |
17-18 | 19.7 | 6.7 | 7.8 | 63 | .468 | .805 | .438 |
18-19 | 19.9 | 7.4 | 8.2 | 51 | .443 | .883 | .429 |
Totals | 1,984 | 756 | 792 | 158 | .438 | .836 | .430 |
What to expect this season
Ionescu enters her senior campaign with the chance to join an exclusive club.
So far, she has accumulated 1,984 points, 792 assists and 756 rebounds. The only player who has more than 2,000 points and 1,000 assists in their career is Gonzaga’s Courtney Vandersloot. Ionescu had 311 assists last season, so her joining Vandersloot is absolutely in play.
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Ionescu also has the chance to win a third Nancy Lieberman Award – given to the nation’s top point guard – which has only been done once, by UConn’s Sue Bird. Additionally, another Pac-12 Player of the Year award would put her in the company of Stanford’s Candice Wiggins as the only three-time winners.
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