Oregon star Ionescu will serve double duty on Monday
Sabrina Ionescu started an emotional weekend Friday with a triple-double and a big Oregon win over Cal to start her final trip to the Bay Area as a college player.
Her weekend just keeps getting tougher.
On Monday, Ionescu, the former Miramonte High star and Walnut Creek native, will be one of the speakers at the memorial service for Kobe and Gianna Bryant in Los Angeles.
She then will return to the Bay Area to join her Oregon teammates to face Stanford that night with the Pac-12 regular-season title likely riding on the result.
“I’ll be filled with emotions obviously,” she told the Pac-12 Networks following the team’s victory over Cal. “I’m going to be attending that and honoring everything they’ve done for me. Then obviously coming back for that Stanford game.
“We don’t really like sharing, so that game’s going to mean a lot more than just a Pac-12 title.”
“Monday’s going to be a difficult day for her to speak at the memorial for Kobe and Gianna, but what a great opportunity and a great privilege and a great honor,” coach Kelly Graves said.
“And then to have to fly up and have to play what is going to be a really big game on Monday night, but if there’s anybody that can handle something like that, it’s her. She’ll use it as fuel. It wouldn’t surprise me if she has a game for the ages that night, because that’s how she’s wired.”
Monday’s memorial, which sold out of the 20,000 available tickets, starts at 10 a.m. at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The thirdranked Ducks will face the fourth-ranked Cardinal at Maples Pavilion at 6 p.m.
Ionescu and the Bryants struck up a friendship the past couple of years. According to Graves, Ionescu and Kobe were in regular contact.
Bryant was no stranger to the Ducks, according to ESPN.COM. He and Gianna attended the team’s game at USC last January, at which time he spoke to the Ducks in the locker room. He was also in attendance when Oregon played at Long Beach State last month. But it was Ionescu, in particular, with whom the former NBA player forged a bond.
Last spring, in conjunction with Oregon’s appearance in the Final Four, Bryant dedicated an episode of his ESPN+ show Detail to deconstructing Ionescu’s game. Ionescu referenced that analysis, and the motivation it provided, when announcing her decision to bypass last year’s WNBA draft and return to Oregon for her senior season.