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Sabrina Ionescu

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Sabrina Ionescu
Sabrina Ionescu at the 2019 Pac 12 Tournament
No. 20 – Oregon Ducks
PositionPoint guard
LeaguePac-12 Conference
Personal information
Born (1997-12-06) December 6, 1997 (age 27)
Walnut Creek, California
NationalityAmerican
Listed height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Career information
High schoolMiramonte
(Orinda, California)
CollegeOregon (2016–2020)
Career highlights and awards
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Medals
Representing  United States
Women's basketball
FIBA Americas U-16 Championship
Gold medal – first place 2013 Mexico National team
FIBA U-17 World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2014 Czech Republic National team
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 2019 Lima National 3x3 team

Sabrina Ionescu (born December 6, 1997)[1] is an American basketball player who most recently played for the Oregon Ducks of the Pac-12 Conference. She is the NCAA all-time leader in career triple-doubles, the Pac-12 Conference all-time leader in assists, and the only NCAA Division I basketball player to record 2,000 points, 1,000 assists, and 1,000 rebounds in a career.[2]

Early life

Ionescu is the daughter of Romanian immigrants. Her father, Dan Ionescu, fled Romania around the time of the 1989 revolution, seeking political asylum in the United States. He hoped that his then-wife, Liliana Blaj, and their son Andrei could join them in a few months, but they were unable to come to the US until 1995.[3] By that time, Dan owned a limousine service in Northern California, where he had chosen to settle because he had several extended family members in that area.[3] Sabrina has a twin brother Edward ("Eddy"), who was born 18 minutes after her.[3][4] Eddy played basketball at the City College of San Francisco[5] before transferring to Oregon; he was solely a student in the 2018–19 school year[6] before walking on to the Ducks men's basketball team in 2019–20.[3][7] She and Eddy were described in a 2019 ESPN story as being "fairly fluent" in Romanian.[3][8]

In a 2019 interview with Ava Wallace of The Washington Post, Ionescu admitted to being a "natural scorer", but said that most of the rest of her skill set came from playing alongside both boys and older girls in her childhood:[9]

When I was younger, I was always playing with the guys, and I had to find ways to get the ball, because they never wanted to pass to me. So I figured that if I could rebound, I would be able to get the ball myself. Then passing-wise, when I was in sixth grade playing with the eighth-grade team, I was obviously a lot shorter, skinnier, smaller than they were. I would just have to find ways to impact the game other than shooting or scoring, and that was passing.

Ionescu attended a middle school that did not have enough players to field a girls' team, and her school refused to allow her to play on the boys' team. She recalled, "My middle school said I should be playing with dolls. Seriously, word-for-word." She responded by recruiting enough girls to enable her school to have a team.[9]

High school career

Sabrina Ionescu as MVP of the 2016 McDonald's All-American Girls Game

Ionescu was four-year varsity basketball letter winner at Miramonte High School in Orinda, California under head coach Kelly Sopak.

As a freshman in 2012-13, she started 14 of 29 games and averaged 13.8 points, 3.9 assists and 3.9 steals per game to help her team to a 27–3 record and a Northern California Section Division II runner-up finish.

As a sophomore in 2013-14, Ionescu helped her team to a 30–2 record.[5]

During her junior year, Ionescu averaged 18.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 4.7 steals per game, and helped Miramonte HS to a 30–2 record with an appearance in the CIF open division semifinals.

In her senior year, she led Miramonte to the CIF open division title game after averaging 25.3 points, 8.8 assists, 7.6 rebounds, 4.5 steals and 1.3 blocks per game. She posted a triple-double in the championship game loss to Chaminade with 24 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds. Ionescu also made a first half buzzer beating shot from half court. She received national honors including the USA Today Girls Basketball Player of the Year, Max Preps Player of the Year and Gatorade State Player of the Year. Ionescu was named a McDonald's All-America and Jordan Brand All-American selection. She was named the McDonald's All-America game MVP after scoring a record 25 points, including seven three-pointers, with 10 rebounds.

Ionescu left Miramonte with a career win-loss record of 119–9 and a school-record 2,606 points scored. She is also the all-time leader in assists (769), steals (549) and triple-doubles (21). In addition to the career record, Ionescu also held the Miramonte top three single season scoring records with 598 (2013–14), 760 (2014–15) and 834 (2015–16). Ionescu also held the single-game scoring record of 43 points vs. Pinewood High School while being double- and triple-teamed and the single game record in assists with 19 at Dublin High School.

Ionescu was a consensus top-five prospect in the recruiting class of 2016. According to Ava Wallace of The Washington Post, Ionescu chose Oregon "because she wanted to be the all-American at Oregon, not just an all-American somewhere else." At the time, she was the highest-ranked recruit ever to commit to Oregon basketball.[9] However, she had difficulty making a college choice, not signing a National Letter of Intent with any school during either the early signing period in November 2015 or the late period in April 2016. Ionescu finally committed to Oregon just before the school's 2016 summer term began, driving with her father for 8 hours from their Bay Area home to Eugene, making an unannounced visit to Matthew Knight Arena and telling head coach Kelly Graves that she would join the team.[3]

College career

Freshman season

As a freshman, she was named the 2017 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year as voted on by league coaches. Her Freshman of the Year honor was the first Oregon Duck since 1999 and is the second Duck to earn the honor all-time. Ionescu recorded four triple-doubles, one shy of the Pac-12 record and two less than the NCAA record. She averaged 14.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game, ranking second on the team in scoring and rebounding, and first in assists. She also posted seven double-doubles, ranked third in the Pac-12 and 29th in the NCAA with 183 assists on the year. Her 1.93-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio was second-best in the Pac-12. She was named Pac-12 Freshman of Week four times and was named USBWA National Player of the Week. Additionally, she was awarded the USBWA National Freshman of the Year as the top freshman in the nation.[10]

Sophomore season

On February 26, 2018, Ionescu was named espnW's college basketball player of the week.[11] Ionescu led the Ducks to their third regular-season league crown all-time and first-ever No. 1 seed in the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament. She led the Pac-12 in scoring (19.2) and assists, dishing out 7.8 assists per game which was fifth-most in the country. She had 16 double-doubles this season and 14 20-point games. She has recorded 10-assist games 13 times this season, handing out a league season-high 14 twice. Following her second season, she was named the Pac-12 Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year, and was also named a first team All-American by ESPN. Ionescu's Oregon Ducks also won the Pac-12 championship for the first time since 2000. She was named the winner of the Nancy Lieberman Award as the top Division I women's point guard after the season,[12] and was also a finalist for the Naismith Award.[13] Ionescu became NCAA women's all-time leader in triple-doubles,[14] trailing only former BYU men's player Kyle Collinsworth (with 12) among all NCAA players.[15]

Junior season

On November 6, 2018, Ionescu recorded her 11th triple-double in a victory against Alaska-Fairbanks.[16] Twelve days later, she would tie the NCAA triple-double record, with her 12th triple-double in a win against Buffalo.[17] On December 20, 2018, Ionescu recorded her 13th triple-double in a game against Air Force and broke the NCAA triple-double record for both men and women basketball.[18][19] She was later named ESPNW Player of the Week.[20] Since that game on December 20, 2018, Ionescu has added five more triple-doubles for a season total of eight, and has broken the Oregon women's basketball assist record (formerly 608 assists) in a Pac-12 conference game against USC.[21][22][23] In the 2019 NCAA Tournament, Ionescu leads the Ducks to their first Final Four appearance after their 88–84 victory over Mississippi State.[24] Sabrina finished the game with 31 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and a steal. In the NCAA Tournament Final Four, the Ducks lost to the eventual national champion Baylor 72-67. After the conclusion of the season, Ionescu was named the 2019 John R. Wooden Award winner along with Duke's Zion Williamson. The award is given annually to the most outstanding male and female collegiate basketball player that year.

Senior season

In the second game of her senior season on November 13, 2019, Ionescu surpassed the 2,000 points, 800 assists mark for her college career with a 109–52 win over Utah State. She fell short of another triple-double with 16 points, 12 assists and 9 rebounds in the game but recorded her 2,012 career points and 810 career assists.[25] In a win over then #3 Stanford (87–55), Ionescu scored a career high 37 points along with 11 rebounds and 7 assists, and broke Alison Lang's Oregon all-time career scoring record of 2,252 points in the third quarter.[26][27] In the rivalry game against Oregon State on January 24, 2020, Ionescu had 24 points, 9 assists and 4 rebounds and broke Oregon State and NBA star Gary Payton's Pac-12 all-time record of 938 assists.[28][29] Payton personally congratulated Ionescu on the achievement.[30] On February 14, 2020, Ionescu recorded her 1,000th career assist in a game against #7 UCLA and joined Courtney Vandersloot as the only players in NCAA men's and women's basketball history with 2,000 plus points and 1,000 plus assists.[31] Ten days later in the Ducks' 74–66 win at #4 Stanford, she became the first NCAA player ever with 2,000 points, 1,000 assists, and 1,000 rebounds in a career. Ionescu also recorded her eighth triple-double of the season, tying her own NCAA single-season record from last season. Earlier that day, she had been a featured speaker at the memorial service for Kobe Bryant, who had become a close personal friend within the previous two years, flying from Los Angeles to the Bay Area immediately after her speech.[2]

On 14 April, 2020, Ionescu was named the winner of the Honda Sports Award as the best collegiate female basketball player in the nation.[32][33]

College triple-doubles

Dates and stats of triple-doubles
Count Date Opponent Points Rebounds Assists Outcome
Freshman season (2016–2017)
1 November 27, 2016 San Jose State 11 12 11 Win (91–62)
2 December 12, 2016 Clemson 23 12 10 Win (87–59)
3 January 22, 2017 Utah 14 10 13 Win (84–66)
4 February 10, 2017 UCLA 11 10 10 Win (84–75)
Sophomore season (2017–2018)
5 November 12, 2017 Drake 29 10 11 Win (110–77)
6 November 16, 2017 Texas A&M 16 10 11 Win (83–68)
7 December 17, 2017 Ole Miss 21 11 14 Win (90–46)
8 December 31, 2017 Washington 24 14 10 Win (94–83)
9 January 28, 2018 Utah 19 10 13 Win (84–68)
10 March 16, 2018 Seattle 19 10 11 Win (88–45)
Junior season (2018–2019)
11 November 6, 2018 Alaska 18 11 12 Win (115–36)
12 November 18, 2018 Buffalo 12 10 10 Win (102–82)
13 December 20, 2018 Air Force 17 11 13 Win (82–36)
14 December 21, 2018 UC Irvine 13 10 14 Win (115–69)
15 January 6, 2019 Washington State 17 12 10 Win (98–58)
16 January 20, 2019 Arizona 21 12 12 Win (93–60)
17 February 24, 2019 USC 13 12 13 Win (96–78)
18 March 24, 2019 Indiana 29 10 12 Win (94–68)
Senior season (2019–2020)
19 November 16, 2019 Texas Southern 10 13 14 Win (99–63)
20 December 16, 2019 UC Riverside 16 18 12 Win (84–41)
21 December 21, 2019 Kansas State 21 10 11 Win (89–51)
22 January 12, 2020 Arizona 17 10 10 Win (71–64)
23 February 1, 2020 Colorado 24 10 13 Win (101–53)
24 February 7, 2020 Arizona 15 11 10 Win (85–52)
25 February 21, 2020 California 17 11 11 Win (93–61)
26 February 24, 2020 Stanford 21 12 12 Win (74–66)

As of February 24, 2020. [22][34]

Impact at Oregon

According to Ducks coach Kelly Graves, Ionescu has "a chance to be a Marcus Mariota, that level of player and an esteemed Oregon Duck when it’s all said and done." He noted that attendance at Oregon women's games has dramatically increased during Ionescu's career at the school. In the season before she arrived, the average announced home attendance for the Ducks was 1,501. Her sophomore season saw an average attendance of over 4,200, and in her junior season, average attendance was 7,148. Ionescu is also a significant draw when Oregon goes on the road; for example, when the Ducks visited Washington during her junior season, the crowd for that game was 3,000 more than the Huskies drew two nights earlier against Oregon State.[9]

National team career

In late April 2018, Ionescu and Oregon teammates Erin Boley, Otiona Gildon, and Ruthy Hebard entered the USA Basketball women's national 3x3 championship tournament at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.[35] Ionescu had never before played under FIBA 3x3 rules, admitting after the tournament, "I had to ask the rules before the games started."[36] She adjusted quickly to the unfamiliar format, leading her team to the championship while going unbeaten and also being named tournament MVP.[35] Ionescu and her Oregon teammates would be named as the US team for the 2018 3x3 World Cup to be held in June in the Philippines.[37] At the World Cup, they were the youngest team in the field, but swept their pool, defeating Cup holders Russia along the way.[38]

WNBA prospects

Because Ionescu turned 22 in December 2019 she was eligible to declare for the 2019 WNBA draft. A January 2019 mock draft by ESPN, incorporating input from WNBA personnel and ESPN women's basketball analysts, concluded that Ionescu was a possible top pick should she declare.[39] However, Ionescu announced in an open letter published in The Players' Tribune on April 6, 2019, the day after Oregon's loss to Baylor in the Final Four and four days before the draft, that she would return to Oregon for her senior season.[40]

Career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader

College

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2016–17 Oregon 33 33 32.9 .390 .420 .825 6.6 5.5 1.3 .2 2.9 14.6
2017–18 Oregon 38 38 35.6 .468 .438 .805 6.7 7.8 1.7 .3 3.0 19.7
2018–19 Oregon 38 38 35.9 .443 .429 .883 7.4 8.2 1.3 .2 2.5 19.9
2019–20* Oregon 33 33 33.7 .518 .392 .921 8.6 9.1 1.5 .3 3.0 17.5
Career 142 142 34.6 .455 .422 .851 7.3 7.7 1.5 .3 2.8 18.0

* 2020 NCAA tournament cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

See also

References

  1. ^ "FIBA Players Archive: search for "Ionescu"". FIBA. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Voepel, Mechelle (February 24, 2020). "Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu makes history against Stanford". ESPN.com. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Merrill, Elizabeth (March 22, 2019). "Sabrina's Obsession". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
  4. ^ "Bio: Sabrina Ionescu". Oregon Ducks. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Sabrina Ionescu". USA Basketball. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  6. ^ Taylor, Maria (March 16, 2020). "The Legend of Sabrina Ionescu". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  7. ^ "Men's Basketball Roster: Eddy Ionescu". Oregon Ducks. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  8. ^ FitzGerald, Tom (January 5, 2017). "Miramonte alum Sabrina Ionescu returns to Bay Area with Oregon". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  9. ^ a b c d Wallace, Ava (February 4, 2019). "Her middle school said to play with dolls. She set an NCAA triple-double record instead". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  10. ^ "USBWA PRESENTS 2016-17 WOMEN'S HONORS". USBWA. March 31, 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  11. ^ "Oregon Ducks' Sabrina Ionescu is espnW's player of the week". ESPN.com. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  12. ^ "Ducks' Sabrina Ionescu, Ruthy Hebard among position award winners". ESPN.com. March 30, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  13. ^ Greif, Andrew (March 12, 2018). "Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon State's Marie Gulich named ESPN All-Americans". OregonLive.com. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  14. ^ Medow, Shawn (March 12, 2018). ""Triple-double queen" Sabrina Ionescu thrives on competition, looks to tackle Final Four expectations". Daily Emerald. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  15. ^ "Career Records: Triple-Doubles" (PDF). 2017–18 Division I Men's Basketball Records. NCAA. p. 28. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  16. ^ "Oregon vs. Alaska Fairbanks - Game Summary - November 6, 2018 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  17. ^ "Buffalo vs. Oregon - Game Summary - November 18, 2018 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  18. ^ espnWVerified account (2009-07-16). "espnW on Twitter: "Oregon's @sabrina_i20 messed around and got her 13th career triple-double. She is now the all-time NCAA triple-double leader for both men and women". Twitter.com. Retrieved 2018-12-23.
  19. ^ "Air Force vs. Oregon - Game Summary - December 20, 2018 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  20. ^ "Oregon's Ionescu is espnW's player of the week". ESPN.com. 2018-12-24. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  21. ^ Webster, Sierra. "Sabrina Ionescu breaks Oregon assist record in blowout of USC". Daily Emerald. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  22. ^ a b "The ultimate guide to Oregon senior Sabrina Ionescu". ESPN.com. 2020-01-06. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  23. ^ "Sabrina Ionescu - Women's Basketball". University of Oregon Athletics. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  24. ^ Pelton, Kevin. "Sabrina Ionescu powers Oregon to its first Women's Final Four". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
  25. ^ "Ducks' Ionescu eclipses 2,000 points, 800 assists". ESPN.com. 2019-11-14. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  26. ^ Oregonian/OregonLive, James Crepea | The (2020-01-17). "Sabrina Ionescu scores career-high 37, breaks program career scoring record to lead No. 6 Oregon women's basketball past No. 3 Stanford". oregonlive. Retrieved 2020-01-19.
  27. ^ "Sabrina Ionescu's career night leads Oregon past Stanford". ESPN.com. 2020-01-17. Retrieved 2020-01-19.
  28. ^ Mariotasmustache (2020-01-25). "Ionescu Breaks Assist Record in Civil War Win, Ducks 76 - Beavers 64". Addicted To Quack. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  29. ^ Martini, Pete. "Oregon Ducks women: Ionescu and Hebard reach milestones in lopsided victory". Statesman Journal. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  30. ^ "Gary Payton congratulates Sabrina Ionescu on breaking his Pac-12 all-time assists record". sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  31. ^ West, Jenna. "Sabrina Ionescu Adds Career Milestone in Win vs. UCLA". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2020-02-20.
  32. ^ "Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu Named Honda Sport Award Winner for Basketball". CWSA. 2020-04-14. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  33. ^ "Ionescu Wins Honda Sport Award". University of Oregon Athletics. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  34. ^ "Sabrina Ionescu - Women's Basketball". University of Oregon Athletics. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  35. ^ a b "Oregon Ducks Take USA Basketball Women's 3x3 National Championship Title" (Press release). USA Basketball. April 22, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  36. ^ "Sabrina Ionescu leads Oregon to USA 3-on-3 national championship". ESPN.com. Associated Press. April 22, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  37. ^ Voepel, Mechelle (May 17, 2018). "Oregon players to represent U.S. in FIBA 3x3 World Cup". ESPN.com. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  38. ^ "Don't call them kids - they just swept their pool at the FIBA 3x3 World Cup 2018". FIBA. June 11, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  39. ^ Voepel, Mechelle (January 30, 2019). "WNBA mock draft 2019: Predicting all three rounds". ESPN.com. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  40. ^ Ionescu, Sabrina (April 6, 2019). "A Letter to Ducks Nation". The Players' Tribune. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by The person in NCAA History (man or woman) to reach at least 2000 points and at least 1000 assists
February 24, 2020-present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
First
 The person in NCAA History (man or woman) to reach at least 2000 points, at least 1000 rebounds, and at least 1000 assists
February 24, 2020-present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
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