Ionescu in Final Five for Lieberman Award, Ducks Up to No. 2 in AP Poll
03/09/20 | Women's Basketball
EUGENE, Ore. – Two-time Nancy Lieberman Award winner Sabrina Ionescu has been named one of the final five finalists for the honor given to top point guard in the nation, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and Women's Basketball Coaches Association announced on Monday morning.
The Oregon women's basketball team also moved up one spot to No. 2 in the Associated Press top-25 poll while receiving three first-place votes on Monday. The Ducks (31-2) won the Pac-12 Tournament championship in dominant fashion over No. 7 Stanford on Sunday, completing the sweep of the conference regular-season and tournament titles for the second time in the last three years.
Ionescu is looking to join the legendary Sue Bird as the only players ever to win the Lieberman Award three times, after having already been named the Pac-12 player of the year for the third year in a row. The senior superstar was named the Pac-12 Tournament most outstanding player for the second time in her career on Sunday.
The NCAA all-time leader with 26 career triple-doubles and the only player ever to reach 2,000 career points (2,562), 1,000 rebounds (1,040) and 1,000 assists (1,091), Ionescu has matched her own NCAA single-season record with eight triple-doubles so far in 2019-20. On Sunday, Ionescu moved past
Tine Freil (1,088, Pacific, 1990-93) for No. 4 on the NCAA women's basketball all-time assists list, and she is one of only two players in history with 2,000 points and 1,000 assists, along with Courtney Vandersloot.
The Walnut Creek, Calif., native leads the nation this season with a career-high 9.1 assists per game while ranking in the top four in the Pac-12 in both points per game (17.5) and rebounds per game (8.6). Ionescu is tied for fourth in the nation with a career-high 20 double-doubles after finishing with 20 points and 12 assists in Sunday's tournament final.
The winner of the Wooden Award and the Wade Trophy last year as a junior, Ionescu is once again a frontrunner for every national player of the year award, most recently landing on the 15-player Wooden Award national ballot along with teammates Ruthy Hebard and Satou Sabally.
The presentation of the Lieberman Award will take place at ESPN's College Basketball Awards presented by Wendy's live from The Novo presented by Microsoft in downtown Los Angeles, Calif., on Friday April 10. The other four finalists are Te'a Cooper (Baylor), Crystal Dangerfield (Connecticut), Stella Johnson (Rider) and Tyasha Harris (South Carolina).
The Oregon women's basketball team also moved up one spot to No. 2 in the Associated Press top-25 poll while receiving three first-place votes on Monday. The Ducks (31-2) won the Pac-12 Tournament championship in dominant fashion over No. 7 Stanford on Sunday, completing the sweep of the conference regular-season and tournament titles for the second time in the last three years.
Ionescu is looking to join the legendary Sue Bird as the only players ever to win the Lieberman Award three times, after having already been named the Pac-12 player of the year for the third year in a row. The senior superstar was named the Pac-12 Tournament most outstanding player for the second time in her career on Sunday.
The NCAA all-time leader with 26 career triple-doubles and the only player ever to reach 2,000 career points (2,562), 1,000 rebounds (1,040) and 1,000 assists (1,091), Ionescu has matched her own NCAA single-season record with eight triple-doubles so far in 2019-20. On Sunday, Ionescu moved past
Tine Freil (1,088, Pacific, 1990-93) for No. 4 on the NCAA women's basketball all-time assists list, and she is one of only two players in history with 2,000 points and 1,000 assists, along with Courtney Vandersloot.
The Walnut Creek, Calif., native leads the nation this season with a career-high 9.1 assists per game while ranking in the top four in the Pac-12 in both points per game (17.5) and rebounds per game (8.6). Ionescu is tied for fourth in the nation with a career-high 20 double-doubles after finishing with 20 points and 12 assists in Sunday's tournament final.
The winner of the Wooden Award and the Wade Trophy last year as a junior, Ionescu is once again a frontrunner for every national player of the year award, most recently landing on the 15-player Wooden Award national ballot along with teammates Ruthy Hebard and Satou Sabally.
The presentation of the Lieberman Award will take place at ESPN's College Basketball Awards presented by Wendy's live from The Novo presented by Microsoft in downtown Los Angeles, Calif., on Friday April 10. The other four finalists are Te'a Cooper (Baylor), Crystal Dangerfield (Connecticut), Stella Johnson (Rider) and Tyasha Harris (South Carolina).
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