Sabrina Ionescu Becomes Oregon’s All-Time Scoring Leader

It’s one thing to establish yourself as the greatest women’s basketball player in the history of your school. But to do so in a lopsided victory against a conference rival with whom you’re vying to win your conference championship.

There’s really not that many more accolades we can bestow upon Sabrina Ionescu, the superstar point guard for the University of Oregon’s women’s basketball team. Entering the season as the reigning winner of the John R. Wooden Award (given to the most outstanding men’s and women’s college basketball player), Ionescu began accomplishing things throughout the 2019-2020 season that would effectively cement her legendary status in Oregon sports lore.

And she might’ve cemented that legacy for good after exceeding 2,252 career point scored, breaking Oregon’s all-time career scoring record that was previously held by Alison Lang, during Oregon’s 87-55 beat down of Pac-12 rival Stanford. The then-#3 ranked Cardinal watched as Ionescu scored a career high 37 points, and added 11 rebounds and 7 assists, to become the all-time leading scorer in school history.

Ionescu’s performance in the win over the Cardinal was magnificent enough that, even in defeat, Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer could do nothing but marvel over Ionescu. In her post-game comments, VanDerveer referred to Ionescu as “the best player in college basketball right now,” and described her as that rare athlete who can defeat an opponent with both her physical gifts, as well as her basketball savvy.
Ionescu’s ability to control the game in all statistical facets has been one of her proverbial calling cards during her time in Eugene. As a sophomore, she set the NCAA career record for most triple-doubles by a women’s college basketball player, picking up her 13th triple-double only two months into her sophomore year.

And then, just last week, in the Ducks’ Pac-12 opener against the University of Colorado, Ionescu recorded her 900th career assist, putting her in second place in Pac-12 history for most career assists by a men’s or women’s player. She now only trails former Oregon State star and NBA legend Gary Payton, who had 938 — a figure she’s sure to break before she leaves school and play for the pro’s herself.

The impact she’s made on Oregon women’s basketball cannot be overstated. Even Ducks coach Kelly Graves compared her to former Oregon quarterback (and Heisman Trophy winner) Marcus Mariota, in terms of her importance to Oregon athletics. According to school data, attendance to women’s basketball games has grown by almost 400% since Ionescu has been on the team.

With very few marks left to still achieve in her storybook college basketball career, Ionescu undoubtedly has her sights set on that one remaining accomplishment: leading the Ducks to a National Championship victory. Ionescu and the University of Oregon advanced all the way to the Final Four of the 2019 NCAA Tournament, but they were defeated by the eventual national champion Baylor University, by a 72-67 score.

The early “bracketology” experts project the Ducks to be a #1-seed in the 2020 NCAA Tournament, of course assuming they continue to play at this level through the remainder of the season.