Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu scores 25 in return to Oregon

EUGENE, Ore. — Playing at Oregon’s Matthew Knight Arena for the first time in five years, New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu drew a roar from the capacity crowd by proclaiming, “Go Ducks!”

Ionescu, a three-time WNBA All-Star, made the return trip to Eugene along with Liberty teammate and fellow former Oregon standout Nyara Sabally for a preseason game against the Toyota Antelopes of Japan.

It was the fourth time this preseason the WNBA has reunited college fans with their former stars. Caitlin Clark returned to Iowa, Angel Reese went back to LSU and a trio of former Notre Dame stars visited South Bend, Indiana.

Ionescu scored 25 points, including six 3-pointers, in the 84-61 victory over the Antelopes. Sabally had 7.

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“This was just a thank you,” Ionescu said. “This wasn’t any kind of celebration for me. I think it was just me wanting to celebrate the University of Oregon and what they’ve done for me in my career.”

The crowd gave Ionescu a standing ovation after she hit a 3-pointer from the midcourt logo with 6:03 left. She waved to the crowd and put her hand on her heart before going to the bench.

“It’s great to be back home,” Ionescu told the sellout crowd before the game.

Ionescu was a senior in 2020 for then-No. 2 Oregon when the season ended prematurely because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Oregon defeated No. 7 Stanford in the Pac-12 tournament championship that year and the Ducks were expected to be among the top-seeds in the NCAA tournament. Sabally was a redshirt freshman that year, but did not play because of an ACL injury.

Ionescu ended her college career as the NCAA’s all-time triple-doubles leader, among both men and women, with 26. She was drafted No. 1 by the Liberty in the 2020 WNBA draft.

Eugene Mayor Kaarin Knudson declared Monday “Sabrina Ionescu Day” in honor of Ionescu, who won a WNBA title with the Liberty last year as well as a gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

“I’m glad they’re getting their love,” teammate Natasha Cloud said of Ionescu and Sabally. “They deserve it. Both of them have grown so much from being here, and obviously being able to win the (WNBA) championship last year, to come back here and celebrate with the fans.”

The Liberty announced earlier Monday it exercised Sabally’s fourth-year option, which will keep her with the team through the 2026 season.

Liberty owner Clara Wu Tsai and Oregon coach Kelly Graves were among those at the game.

“It is a really cool idea. The preseason has been going to a lot of the college campuses of their star players and Sabrina is a franchise player for us and has done wonderful things,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “So it’s great to come back where it all started.”

Graves noted that if the opening rounds of NCAA tournament had been played in 2020, Ionescu would have had at least one more game in Eugene to thank the fans.

“There would have been a bit of closure. She would have known, ‘This is my last game at Matthew Knight Arena,’ and she just never got that opportunity,” Graves said. “So that’s why I thought this was really cool to do.”

The WNBA returns to Oregon next year, when an as-yet unnamed expansion team kicks off in Portland.