Oregon’s Ionescu delivers triple-double
Sabrina Ionescu recorded her NCAA-best 25th career triple-double with 17 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds as fan and two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry sat courtside to support her, leading the No. 3 Oregon women to their 13th straight win with a 93-61 victory over Cal on Friday night.
Erin Boley hit six of her eight 3-pointers in the first half on the way to 24 points as the Ducks (25-2, 14-1 Pac12) closed in on another conference title.
Ionescu shot 7 for 9 in the seventh triple-double of her career that came on the road. She has the most in NCAA history, in the men’s or women’s game. Back home in her native Bay Area, Ionescu, a Miramonte High graduate, received a rousing ovation when introduced before the game and again when she left for good with 4:27 remaining.
After reaching the 1,000 assists mark in last Friday’s 80-66 win at UCLA, Ionescu moved within nine rebounds of becoming the first player in NCAA history with 2,000 points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds.
Boley shot 8 of 9 from behind the arc to finish one 3 off her career high of nine set at Washington on Jan. 27, 2019.
Jaelyn Brown scored 26 points on 10-for-25 shooting, and Cailyn Crocker added 15 points to lead Cal (10-16, 2-13) after the Golden Bears took a 105-55 thumping from the Ducks on Jan. 19 in Eugene. THOMAS SCORES CAREERHIGH
31 TO LEAD NO. 11 ARIZONA >> Sam Thomas scored a career-high 31 points, and No. 11 Arizona (22-4, 11-4 Pac-12), missing its leading scorer, still rolled past Utah (12-14, 5-10) 85-69 in Salt Lake City. Aari McDonald, who was eighth in the nation at 20.5 points per game and with a streak of 62 consecutive games scoring in double figures, missed the matchup with a lower leg injury and is day-to-day.
Arizona has 11 conference wins for the first time since 2004-05.
NO. 21 ARIZONA STATE
WOMEN RALLY TO BEAT COLORADO >> Reili Richardson and Ja’Tavia Tapley scored 16 points apiece to help No. 21 Arizona State (19-8, 9-6 Pac-12) rally for a 65-59 win over Colorado in Boulder.
Emma Clarke had 12 points to lead Colorado (1511, 4-11).
Men
EX-STAR WISEMAN OPENS UP ON MEMPHIS EXIT >> Former Memphis center James Wiseman told ESPN he was “crying every night” after the NCAA ruled him ineligible to play for the Tigers earlier this season.
The 7-foot-1 Wiseman exited the Memphis program in December, partway through an NCAA-ordered, 12-game suspension. The ban followed the discovery that Penny Hardaway, before becoming Tigers coach, gave Wiseman’s mother $11,500 for moving expenses when she relocated her family from Nashville to Memphis in 2017.
In an interview broadcast Friday, Wiseman said he was brought to tears nightly because of the “mental agony” of not being able to play for Hardaway and the Tigers.
“I just wanted to get on the court so much, because I just love the game of basketball,” Wiseman told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski in an interview that aired on “NBA Countdown.” “That really took a lot out of me. I was really like in the middle of a hurricane, really. I was like the eye of it.“