Editor's note: Charlie Creme, Graham Hays and Mechelle Voepel each vote to determine espnW's national player of the week, which is awarded every week of the women's college basketball season.
Oregon closed its nonconference season with a flourish. Guard Sabrina Ionescu had her 13th and 14th triple-doubles. And she will no doubt add to her NCAA record once the Pac-12 season begins.
Nobody in women's or men's college basketball has mastered the triple-double like Ionescu has, and she's just a junior. Ionescu led the way in victories over Mississippi State, Air Force and UC Irvine for the 11-1 Ducks and is the espnW national player of the week.
Tuesday, Oregon hosted the Bulldogs in a nationally televised battle that featured the top two scoring teams in Division I. Mississippi State was undefeated coming into the game, but the Bulldogs had a difficult time stopping the Ducks' guards. Ionescu had 29 points -- going 17 of 17 from the line -- and Maite Cazorla scored 20 in the Ducks' 82-74 victory.
That was a big night for the Pac-12, as earlier in the evening Stanford beat previously undefeated Tennessee. The Ducks and Cardinal don't meet until Feb. 10 at Stanford, and we'll see how many triple-doubles Ionescu has by then.
The two she added this past week were against Air Force (17 points, 11 rebounds, 13 assists) and UC Irvine (13, 10, 14). Ionescu already had the most triple-doubles in NCAA women's basketball history, but No. 13 versus Air Force in an 82-36 victory Thursday put her alone among both men's and women's hoops.
The cherry on top came Friday, as the Ducks won 115-69 against the Anteaters, tying their season high for points. It was the fourth time this season that Oregon has topped 100 points; the Ducks are averaging 90.5 PPG, just behind Mississippi State's 91.7.
Ionescu leads Division I in assists per game (8.8) and is also averaging 20.0 points and 8.3 rebounds. She is shooting 48.2 percent from the field, and 54.7 from 3-point range All of those numbers are career highs.
The Ducks face Concordia in an exhibition on Dec. 30, and then open Pac-12 play on Jan. 4 against Washington.
Ionescu said the Mississippi State contest was a measuring-stick kind of game, and it's fair to say both she and the Ducks could feel good about how well they measured up. Now they go into the holiday break knowing their best could still be ahead of them.
Also nominated: Arike Ogunbowale, Notre Dame; Napheesa Collier, UConn; Megan Gustafson, Iowa; Katie Lou Samuelson, UConn; Alanna Smith, Stanford
Previous winners: Kristine Anigwe, Cal (Nov. 12) | Kierra Anthony, Louisiana Tech (Nov. 19) | Jackie Young, Notre Dame (Nov. 26) | Christyn Williams, UConn (Dec. 3) | Jenna Allen, Michigan State (Dec. 10) | Alanna Smith, Stanford (Dec. 17)