Sabrina Ionescu Pulls Off an N.C.A.A. First Hours After Kobe Bryant Memorial

STANFORD, Calif. — Sabrina Ionescu’s strength inspired her Oregon coaches and teammates all day, from the way she courageously spoke at the memorial service for Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles earlier in the day, then flew back to the Bay Area and took the court shortly after vomiting in the locker room, all before leading the Ducks with yet another brilliant performance on both ends.

And doing something never done before in college basketball, by a man or a woman.

Ionescu became the first player in N.C.A.A. history to reach 2,000 points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds and notched her record 26th career triple-double, too, leading No. 3 Oregon past fourth-ranked Stanford, 74-66, on Monday night.

Ionescu wasn’t made available to the news media for a second straight game, speaking to ESPN on Monday.

“That one was for him. To do it on 2-24-20 was huge,” she told the network. “We talked about it in the preseason. I can’t put it into words. He’s looking down and proud of me and happy for this moment with my team.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/25/sports/ncaabasketball/sabrina-ionescu.html