University of Oregon star Sabrina Ionescu grieved the loss of longtime friend and mentor Kobe Bryant long after his passing. The projected No. 1 WNBA Draft pick remembers texting the Los Angeles Lakers icon even after his death, looking for that connection.

“The rest is for you,” she texted him once, according to Mirin Fader of Bleacher Report. “Miss you and love you.”

Ionescu was clearly hurt by the death of her friend, and her coaches took notice in her demeanor during game days.

“That was not normal Sabrina,” said Mark Campbell, Oregon's associate head coach. “You could see it in her eyes, could see it during timeouts.”

“My head was in a cloud,” Ionescu admitted, noting that the days following Bryant's death were all but a blur to her.

For others, seeing her dig herself out of her grief and yielding the pain into fuel brought an indomitable spirit. It was the start of her very own “Mamba Mentality” in a way.

“The best of Sabrina came through that day,” said Oregon head coach Kelly Graves. “I saw a more focused, more driven Sabrina after Kobe's death. That was the moment she made up her mind: We're not losing.”

The message Ionescu sent to the late Lakers legend might have gone unread, but it provided the necessary closure to move on and proceed with the last year of her collegiate career, as they had once agreed.

Ionescu could have declared for the NBA Draft in 2019, but chose to remain at Oregon for one last chance at the NCAA title after coming up short during the last March Madness.

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