Not only were they difficult to guard while growing up, but they also, at times, communicated in fluent Romanian, according to The Oregonian. Sabrina Ionescu makes WNBA single-season history New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu made history Saturday night, becoming the first WNBA player to eclipse 500 points, 200 rebounds and 2.. The Ducks make the NCAA tournament for the first time in 12 years, as a 10-seed. In her second WNBA game on July 29 against the Dallas Wings, she recorded 33 points, 7 assists, and 7 rebounds in 34 minutes of play. Sabrina Ionescu and her father Dan Ionescu (Source: OregonLive) On Larkey Park's concrete court near their Walnut Creek, California, home, Sabrina and Eddy Ionescu took on unsuspecting marks in games of two-on-two. Dan, Sabrina's father: [The twins] always felt comfort with each other. She wants to win a national championship. Pac-12 Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year, NCAA all-time leader in career triple-doubles, "Nike signs #1 pick Sabrina Ionescu to multiyear endorsement deal", "Sabrina Ionescu joins Oregon Ducks in part-time role", "Sabrina Ionescu - Forbes 30 Under 30 Profile", List of NCAA Division I basketball career triple-doubles leaders, List of NCAA Division I women's basketball career assists leaders, "Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu makes history against Stanford", "Sabrina Ionescu: 4 facts about the Oregon women's basketball scoring, assists leader", "Miramonte alum Sabrina Ionescu returns to Bay Area with Oregon", "Her middle school said to play with dolls. Ruthy Hebard, Sabrina's Oregon teammate and best friend: Right off the bat, she was a leader. [12] 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." Sabrina Ionescu has a twin brother named Eddy Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty dribbles up the court during the second half of a game against the Dallas Wings in 2020. As the story's author Damian Foley put it, Yes, Sabrina Elaine Ionescu, who only earned her diploma in 2019, is considered by UO fans to be one of the four greatest Ducks ever, standing alongside such greats as Marcus Mariota, Steve Prefontaine, and the alumnus who co-founded Nike and made the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact possible. Her two brothers are. Her first language was Romanian, which she used when playing with her brother in basketball games. Basketball Player Born in California #37. And All-Star guard Sabrina Ionescu is feeling as healthy and energized as she has since she joined the Liberty as the No. 1 ranked point guard and No. So we decided to build a future together. One of the most electric basketball players in the world (man or woman) is the WNBA star, Sabrina Ionescu. So I figured that if I could rebound, I would be able to get the ball myself. 1 pick in the 2020 draft. During her first year, she participated in 14 games out of 29 games, scoring 13.8 points, 2.9 steals, and 3.9 assists per game during that season. And so for days on end, I didn't use my right hand once. With Oregon ranked No. Eddy: One day when we were short I think we only had four guys warming up I asked my coach if it was all right to have my sister play with us. Copyright 2023 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. She is also the NCAAs all-time triple-double leader with 26, and she is fourth on the all-time NCAA womens list in career assists with 1,091. She played college basketball for the Oregon Ducks. It's like, we're in for something special tonight. Also, people are curious to know more about her partner, parents and family. But everything comes to a halt when the NCAA announces a complete shutdown of winter and spring championships. Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu (20) celebrates after a game against Mississippi State during the 2019 NCAA women's tournament. Sabrina Ionescu was born on 6th December 1997 and grew up in Walnut Creek, California, to her Romanian-American parents. 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]. We let Oregon down in some way, because we had such high expectations for ourselves. 707K followers. Sabrina Ionescu's Twin brother Eddy (Source: Instagram) Eddy recorded an average of 6.0 points per game in his first year in 2016-17, and as a sophomore, he recorded 9.9 points per outing in 2017-18. Ramona Shelburne on why playing for the Clippers is deeper than basketball for Paul George. 1 defensive team. She absolutely killed it that game. New York Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu Sets Multiple WNBA Records in Historic Game Among the first was her friend Vanessa. Edited by Sam Nicodemo and Warren Wolcott. Ionescu was born to Romanian-American parents in Walnut Creek, California. Christie Hemm Klok for ESPN. That was the only thing he said, and I was like, "All right." So then I was like, "All right, we're going to Eugene.". Parents Ethnicity And Girlfriend. Too nervous to sleep. My dad had no idea. Sabrina: It was between Oregon and Washington, and I had no idea. Id sit there and try and act like I had no idea how to play, and so they had betted money, and then it was game on, Sabrina told ESPNW. "Sabrina Ionescu joins Oregon Ducks in part-time role". Children Age And Net Worth, Joki Octaviano Accident And Cause Of Death How Did He Die? Seven years later, Ionescu and her twin brother, Eddy, were born. Dan: She will not back down from anything, and he will not back down from anything. Sabrina Ionescu is the first NCAA player EVER with 2,000 points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds! Sabrina: The fact that I had to fight for every rebound, because he wasn't going to give me anything easy, is kind of what I translate to my game now. I think she kind of wanted to do it at her own pace. I didn't even look at the papers because I thought he just wanted me to hold them. So I didn't post anything. After all, Ive never met another Romanian basketball player on the floor., twin brother Eddy Ionescu gave us tv gold last night with a Romanian breakdown of the game of his sis @sabrina_i20 @OregonWBB #WNCAA pic.twitter.com/YFuCJ2BUDo, Many NBA Players Supported the WNBA in a Big Way. With 2.6 seconds left, Sabrina misses the front end of a one-and-one that would have tied and perhaps won the game. She always wanted to learn and to go to every game she could -- college, NBA, WNBA. Sabrina has 24 hours after the conclusion of her season to decide whether to declare for the WNBA draft. March 28, 2020. 3 Stanford", "Sabrina Ionescu's career night leads Oregon past Stanford", "Ionescu Breaks Assist Record in Civil War Win, Ducks 76 Beavers 64", "Oregon Ducks women: Ionescu and Hebard reach milestones in lopsided victory", "Gary Payton congratulates Sabrina Ionescu on breaking his Pac-12 all-time assists record", "Sabrina Ionescu Adds Career Milestone in Win vs. UCLA", "Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu Named Honda Sport Award Winner for Basketball", "WNBA mock draft 2019: Predicting all three rounds", "Liberty Select Sabrina Ionescu No. People were crying and just so sad. ", Sabrina: They had posted something about Ja Morant getting one and said that there was only eight or seven people that ever got one in the NCAA tournament, and they listed all the men that had gotten a triple-double. Months go by. She's worked at it. Ionescu comes close to another triple-double with 10 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists. Liliana Blaj calls her daughter "the hardest self-critic. Eddy: The little dirty plays that some basketball players do, tugging on your shorts, whispering in your ear some trash talk, tripping you while you walk by I would just get under Sabrina's skin, just because I didn't feel like she had enough experience with that yet. 1 by New York Liberty in WNBA draft, while Gianna Bryant is an honorary pick . Every time I stood up, everyone in unison would be like, "basketball." Case UpdateContinue, Stanley Wilson Jr Wife does not exist, as the player was single till his death. Sagittarius . I felt more alone. [41], On August 1, 2020, Ionescu injured her left ankle in the second quarter against the Atlanta Dream. We drove up here, walked in, surprised [coach] Kelly Graves. Eddy has since joined Oregons team. "She's an unbelievable talent on that team," Curry would go on to say in a Warriors news conference. Heading into her junior season, Sabrina has 10 triple-doubles in her career. Related Accounts. It might have been 1 or 2 in the morning when Sabrina and I were on the phone when she had decided where she was going to go and just said, "I'll just surprise them when I get there." In a November exhibition game, she has 30 points, 7 assists and 4 rebounds to lead the Ducks to a stunning 93-86 victory over the U.S. women's national team, which features her heroes and soon-to-be WNBA peers like Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi. Videos Tagged. Sopak: I'm on the phone with her and she has 19 minutes to notify the WNBA [laughs] if she's going to declare for the draft, and we're seeing things on Twitter that she's going, she's not going, and we're laughing about it because she doesn't know. He hoped that his then-wife, Liliana Blaj, and their son Andrei could join them in a few months, but they were unable to move to the US until 1995. 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. Sabrina: We're built-in best friends. I don't think his mom really appreciated that. Later that month, Ionescu, Auriemma and Taurasi are among the eight people to speak at the Los Angeles memorial honoring Kobe and Gigi Bryant. In recent years, basketball phenom Sabrina Ionescu has used her talent to lead the Oregon Ducks and become the face of women's college hoops. 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. It was hard. 336 following. Verified. Sabrina: I love having a relationship with [Curry], just being able to remember when I was little, watching him and kind of emulating my game after him, to now being able to call him or text him any time that I need help with something. After the NCAA made the extraordinary decision last week to cancel its tournaments in an effort to slow the coronavirus pandemic, Ionescu lost the opportunity to win the championship that has eluded her and her Oregon Ducks, the one for which she delayed entry to the WNBA to try to claim. She was named Pac-12 Freshman of Week four times and was named USBWA National Player of the Week. EUGENE, Ore. Sabrina Ionescu woke not long after dawn in her small apartment, laced up her black Nikes and walked across a deserted street to the looming arena where she had . I shot 3-pointers, free throws, everything left-handed. He scored six points per game as a freshman and 9.9 as a sophomore. Growing up, they'd even speak in. And then Kelly didn't say anything, he just handed me the papers with the stats on it and continued to have his postgame speech. Parents Age And Net Worth RevealedContinue, Your email address will not be published. Sabrina Ionescu- Professional Life, Career, Awards