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Oregon Paid Homage to Sabrina Ionescu in Multiple Ways During Season Opener

The former Duck attended the first game of the 2024 season and was met with a warm reception.

Liam McKeone

Aug 28, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu (20) gestures against the LA Sparks in the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 28, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu (20) gestures against the LA Sparks in the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Perhaps no Oregon graduate has enjoyed a better summer than Sabrina Ionescu. The New York Liberty star helped lead her team to a top spot in the WNBA standings before heading to Paris to win a gold medal for Team USA. Upon her return and the restart of the W season, Ionescu didn't miss a beat and is now averaging 19.5 points for the 27-6 Liberty with the postseason rapidly approaching.

With her team on a West Coast trip, Ionescu was also able to pay a quick visit to her college campus. She was on-site for Oregon's first football game of the season, with the No. 3-ranked Ducks taking on the Idaho Vandals.

The return of such a superstar alumnus is always a big occasion for the school and Oregon made that obvious by paying homage to Ionescu in two different ways. The first is simple and a classic— Ionescu got a moment on the big board. The crowd went wild. She even wore her gold medal. It was a great moment.

As a cherry on top, the football team all wore Ionescu's shoes on their way into the game on Saturday afternoon.

Ionescu's presence wasn't enough to drive Oregon to the sort of dominant win a title contender hopes for, but they did ultimately beat Idaho 24-14. A win is a win, as Ionescu would surely be happy to tell us after winning her first gold medal by exactly one point.

It's always fun to see a college hero return to campus. This was no different.

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Liam McKeone

LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.

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