Trying to add a payment method? You can do this on the 
QuickTake:
WNBA champions New York Liberty along with former Oregon Ducks Sabrina Ionescu and Nyara Sabally come to Eugene for a preseason game Monday, May 12.
Imagine Justin Herbert and his fellow Los Angeles Chargers playing in Autzen Stadium seven months after winning the Super Bowl.
Or Payton Pritchard and the rest of the 2024 NBA champion Boston Celtics playing at Matthew Knight Arena earlier this year.
Or how about Sabrina Ionescu and the WNBA champion New York Liberty playing at Matthew Knight on Monday, May 12.
Well, that last one is actually happening, and there are still tickets available, oddly enough.
When it comes to former University of Oregon athletes, no one fires up Duck fans quite like Ionescu, a first-team All-American three straight years and the consensus national player of the year in 2020.
Diehard Duck fans were treated to four years of remarkable Ionescu feats from 2016 to 2020, as the 5-foot-11 guard did two things never before achieved by any other player, man or woman, in NCAA basketball history: 26 triple-doubles (double figures in points, rebounds, assists) and career marks of 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists.
Needless to say, getting to see her play again on Matthew Knight’s Kilkenny Court at 7 p.m., Monday, in a preseason game against the Toyota Antelopes of the Women’s Japanese Basketball League is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that’s sure to be a raucous reunion.
“It’s awesome for everybody,” UO women’s basketball coach Kelly Graves told Lookout Eugene-Springfield. “Especially in Sabrina’s case. She didn’t get the chance to finish her career here. She didn’t get that closure, so to speak. So I’m really glad people will get that chance to honor her.”
And the WNBA all-star guard is not the only former Duck who will be on the court. Her Liberty teammate Nyara Sabally, a 6-foot-5 backup center, also played at Oregon, leading the Ducks in scoring in 2020-21 and 2021-22.
“Those are two beloved players here, and they mean a lot to the community and a lot to the UO,” Graves said. “And it wasn’t our idea, it was their idea.”
Liberty General Manager Jonathan Kolb contacted the UO athletic department this past winter to ask if the Ducks would be open to the Liberty hosting a preseason game in Eugene, Graves said.
Well, sure.
“I can’t wait to get back on the court in Eugene,” Ionescu, 27, said in a press release when the game was announced in March. “I’ve got some great things in store throughout the weekend for my teammates: past and present, Oregon women’s basketball fans, the Eugene community and the S120 Foundation. Sco Ducks forever!”
Sabally, whose older sister, Satou Sabally, now with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, also played with her sister and Ionescu at Oregon, is equally thrilled to return to Eugene in this fashion.
“I am super-excited to have this preseason game in Eugene,” Nyara Sabally said in the same press release. “I never thought I was going to be able to play on that court and in front of our amazing Duck fans again. I know Oregon is going to show out, and it’s going to be an amazing atmosphere.”
Ionescu’s senior season was cut short in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Oregon was ranked No. 2 in the nation, a year after playing in the women’s Final Four for the first time, and just won the Pac-12 Conference tournament title in Las Vegas when both the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments were canceled for the first time ever, March 12, 2020.
The Ducks were set to host a first-round game at Matthew Knight Arena and then, in all likelihood, advance to play at the West Regional in Portland.
The Final Four would have been in New Orleans that season, and the Ducks were planning to be there and win its first national title. They were the betting favorite of many.
“There’s always going to be a little hole in my heart for this group of seniors,” Graves said the day after the 2020 tournament was canceled. “This will never happen again. It just won’t happen again. There won’t be another group like this ever.”
But Ionescu finally got her championship last year as the Liberty defeated the Minnesota Lynx in five games, and Nyara Sabally was right alongside her former college teammate.
Ionescu was the No. 1 player drafted overall by the Liberty in the 2020 WNBA draft, and the 25-year-old Sabally was taken fifth overall by the Liberty in 2022.
New York features three 2024 WNBA all-stars in Ionescu (18 points, 6.2 assists per game), 6-foot-4 forward Breanna Stewart (20.4 points, 8.5 rebounds per game) and 6-foot-6 center Jonquel Jones (14.2 points, 9.0 rebounds per game).
The Liberty will practice Sunday at Matthew Knight Arena, Graves said, and will be using Ionescu’s and Sabally’s old locker room.
“Sabrina is emphatic on that one,” Graves said of using the UO women’s locker room. “I gave her a hard time, ‘Man, you’re demanding.’”
The coach added that while he wasn’t sure what the Liberty have planned in town this weekend, he’s sure fans will certainly spot them somewhere, whether at Eugene’s Saturday Market or Fifth Street Public Market or whatever hotel and restaurants they choose to frequent.
“They’ll be hard to miss,” Graves said.
As for the game, Graves said he “wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’ll be there. Our whole team will be there.”
And the Liberty will certainly be there.
“I think they’re bringing everybody, the whole organization,” Graves said. “The dance crew (“The Timeless Torches”), the mascot (“Ellie the Elephant”) — I think the entire production is coming out.”
