Sabrina Ionescu

Classroom

Ionescu earned her bachelor’s degree in general social sciences (with a minor in legal studies) in just 36 months since she first arrived on campus, completing 22 credits in the summer of 2018 to help facilitate the fast track to her undergraduate degree. Ionescu is now pursuing the UO School of Journalism and Communication’s Master of Advertising and Brand Responsibility degree. She is one of 18 participants in the second-year degree program, which is expected to take nine to 12 months to complete.

Character

An ultra-intense competitor, Ionescu chose to return to Oregon for her senior season despite being widely considered the projected top pick in the 2019 WNBA Draft. She announced her decision in The Player’s Tribune saying that she and the Ducks had “unfinished business.” ... “We’re building something here in Eugene. We’re building something — together — that’s going to last for a long time after we’ve all graduated.”

“She’s going to be so determined and focused this year,” said HC Kelly Graves. “She’s going to lead this team. She’s already inspired me…She’s challenged everybody, and I love it. She’s the best assistant coach I’ve ever had. She is going to get this team focused and motivated…We don’t want to do anything to disappoint her…She loves her teammates; she could have gone pro and she opted to stay at the University of Oregon…She wants to not just win a national championship, she wants to build a national brand here…That’s incredible the type of person that we have here in our program.”

Community

Ionescu consistently takes time after games, win or lose, to sign autographs and spend time with all of the young fans who look up to her. She is a huge presence in the Eugene community and one of the biggest role models UO athletics has ever seen.

She made sure to thank Oregon fans in her Player’s Tribune article: “to our UNBELIEVABLE FANS who, honestly — y’all have no idea.”

Competition

Ionescu is the 2019 Wade Trophy and Wooden Award winner, a two-time unanimous first-team All-American, a two-time Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Award winner, a two-time Pac-12 Player of the Year, a three-time All-Pac-12 selection and the 2017 USBWA, ESPNW and Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. With 18 career triple-doubles entering her senior year, Ionescu is the NCAA all-time leader for both men and women, and her eight triple doubles in 2018-19 set a new NCAA single-season record. Ionescu enters her senior season with 1,984 points, 792 assists and 756 rebounds, giving her the chance to become the first player in NCAA women’s basketball history to reach 2,000+ career points, 1,000+ assists and 1,000+ career rebounds. Ionescu is Oregon’s all-time leader in career assists, and in 2018-19 she set a new program single-game record with 17 assists against Long Beach State. The Walnut Creek, Calif., native also owns UO single-season records for points, assists and double-figure scoring games, and she is second in career history in double-figure scoring games, third in three-point field goals made, fourth in points and seventh in double-doubles. Ionescu’s career-high for points in a game is 36, which came on 3/4/18 against Stanford to lead Oregon to its first ever Pac-12 Tournament title. Ionescu’s durability has also been incredible throughout her career; she led the nation in minutes played in 2018-19 with 1,369, 42 more than any other player in the nation.