Sabrina Ionescu circled the date February 24th, 2020 on her calendar months in advance. The former Oregon star was on the precipice of becoming the first college basketball player, men’s or women’s, to reach career totals of 2,000 points, 1,000 assists, and 1,000 rebounds. She estimated the record-setting rebound would come around that day.
There’s a reason why that date, in particular, caught her eye. Ionescu had developed a close relationship with Kobe Bryant in the previous year. Kobe became both a friend and a mentor to the young basketball star.
Ionescu and Kobe’s second-oldest daughter, Gianna, better known as Gigi, had also become close friends. The young teenager was a rising baller herself, and she wanted to be just like Ionescu when she grew up. (Well, other than Gigi wanting to play college basketball at UConn.) In fact, Ionescu worked out with Gigi and her team twice during the summer of 2019. She said Gigi, nicknamed the Mambacita, already had a better stepback than her.
Kobe famously wore no. 24 for the latter half of his NBA career. Gigi had chosen no. 2 for herself and Ionescu donned no. 20. That’s why the date 2-24-20 was meaningful; it was theirs.
Ionescu doesn’t sleep much on nights before games but she probably envisioned how that night’s game would play out dozens of times. She’d break the record at Stanford, just an hour south of her hometown; Kobe and maybe even Gigi would be on hand to witness it; and, most importantly, she’d lead her team to a win over a rival and the no. 4 ranked team in the nation.
As we all know, her vision would never come to fruition. Kobe and Gianna, along with seven others, died in a helicopter crash on January 26th, 2020. The basketball world lost one of its most beloved figures and another who never got the chance to become one. Ionescu lost two deeply close friends.
That night, Ionescu’s Ducks were scheduled to play no. 7 Oregon State. Despite the circumstances, she played all 40 minutes, scored 19 points, and led her team to a victory.
Of course, she did. She’s got the Mamba Mentality in her DNA.
After four weeks alternating between grieving and hooping, February 24th finally arrived. Ionescu sat just nine rebounds shy of 1,000 for her career entering the showdown with Stanford. The great ones always just know those things, don’t they?
Ionescu had not missed a shootaround in her four-year college career. She would make an exception this time, as she was asked to speak at Kobe and Gianna’s Celebration of Life in Los Angeles that morning.
“If I represented the present of the women’s game, Gigi was the future — and Kobe knew it,” Ionescu said.
After her speech, Ionescu’s mind slowly shifted into basketball mode. She flew back to Stanford and headed straight to the arena. Dealing with a heavy heart and an empty stomach — she couldn’t hold any food down all day — it was hard to imagine how Ionescu was even going to play.
It was immediately evident how foolish it was to ever question her ability to dominate on the basketball court. Her game face kicked in as soon as the whistle blew. “That’s Sabrina for you; she’s very focused, especially in the bigger moments,” her dad said.
Ionescu would not be denied, securing the record-setting late in the third quarter. Her Ducks led the no. 4 ranked Cardinal by 18 points at the time. She finished the game with 21 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists, extending her NCAA Division I triple-double record to 26.
Here’s some context to fully explain how utterly ridiculous 26 career triple-doubles are:
- The previous record holders were Kyle Collinsworth (12) on the men’s side and Chastadie Barrs (9) on the women’s.
- The three highest men have a combined 24 triple-doubles and the next three highest women combine for 23.
- Ionescu owns the single-season record for triple-doubles (8), which she did twice.
Ultimately, Oregon defeated Stanford 74-66. The victory was the culmination of a tremendously emotional weekend for all involved, but especially Ionescu. ESPN’s Mechelle Voepel said it best:
Ionescu didn’t just become the first and only member of the 2K/1K/1K club. She did it on the way to her 26th triple-double — the fourth back-to-back triple-double of her career — while helping No. 3 Oregon beat No. 4 Stanford to secure at least a share of the Pac-12 title.
All with a heavy heart, and while so sick she couldn’t keep food down before the game.
Inside Sabrina Ionescu’s whirlwind, record-breaking weekend
The greatest part of sports is those magical moments when an athlete or team rises to meet a seemingly insurmountable challenge. Those moments are few and far between, but everyone knows when one is happening. There’s a distinct, almost supernatural feeling in the air.
Sabrina Ionescu delivered one of those rare moments on February 24th. She fought through an exhausting emotional experience to lead her team to a key victory while making history along the way.
It was, without a doubt, the sports moment of the year, regardless of what The Athletic believes.