diff --git a/polars/polars-core/src/chunked_array/ops/unique/mod.rs b/polars/polars-core/src/chunked_array/ops/unique/mod.rs
index 8f34e149a04a..b4c3224e687e 100644
--- a/polars/polars-core/src/chunked_array/ops/unique/mod.rs
+++ b/polars/polars-core/src/chunked_array/ops/unique/mod.rs
@@ -78,7 +78,38 @@ where
 }
 
 #[cfg(feature = "mode")]
-#[allow(clippy::needless_collect)]
+fn mode_indices(groups: GroupsProxy) -> Vec<IdxSize> {
+    match groups {
+        GroupsProxy::Idx(groups) => {
+            let mut groups = groups.into_iter().collect_trusted::<Vec<_>>();
+            groups.sort_unstable_by_key(|k| k.1.len());
+            let last = &groups.last().unwrap();
+            let max_occur = last.1.len();
+            groups
+                .iter()
+                .rev()
+                .take_while(|v| v.1.len() == max_occur)
+                .map(|v| v.0)
+                .collect()
+        }
+        GroupsProxy::Slice { groups, .. } => {
+            let last = groups.last().unwrap();
+            let max_occur = last[1];
+
+            groups
+                .iter()
+                .rev()
+                .take_while(|v| {
+                    let len = v[1];
+                    len == max_occur
+                })
+                .map(|v| v[0])
+                .collect()
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(feature = "mode")]
 fn mode<T: PolarsDataType>(ca: &ChunkedArray<T>) -> ChunkedArray<T>
 where
     ChunkedArray<T>: IntoGroupsProxy + ChunkTake,
@@ -86,28 +117,12 @@ where
     if ca.is_empty() {
         return ca.clone();
     }
-    let mut groups = ca
-        .group_tuples(true, false)
-        .unwrap()
-        .into_idx()
-        .into_iter()
-        .collect_trusted::<Vec<_>>();
-    groups.sort_unstable_by_key(|k| k.1.len());
-    let last = &groups.last().unwrap();
-
-    let max_occur = last.1.len();
-
-    // collect until we don't take with trusted len anymore
-    // TODO! take directly from iter, but first remove standard trusted-length collect.
-    let idx = groups
-        .iter()
-        .rev()
-        .take_while(|v| v.1.len() == max_occur)
-        .map(|v| v.0)
-        .collect::<Vec<_>>();
+    let groups = ca.group_tuples(true, false).unwrap();
+    let idx = mode_indices(groups);
+
     // Safety:
     // group indices are in bounds
-    unsafe { ca.take_unchecked(idx.into_iter().map(|i| i as usize).into()) }
+    unsafe { ca.take_unchecked(idx.as_slice().into()) }
 }
 
 macro_rules! arg_unique_ca {
diff --git a/polars/polars-core/src/frame/groupby/proxy.rs b/polars/polars-core/src/frame/groupby/proxy.rs
index 3b30c47327c4..3ddf64691c04 100644
--- a/polars/polars-core/src/frame/groupby/proxy.rs
+++ b/polars/polars-core/src/frame/groupby/proxy.rs
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ impl GroupsProxy {
         match self {
             GroupsProxy::Idx(groups) => groups,
             GroupsProxy::Slice { groups, .. } => {
-                eprintln!("Had to reallocate groups, missed an optimization opportunity. Please open an issue.");
+                polars_warn!("Had to reallocate groups, missed an optimization opportunity. Please open an issue.");
                 groups
                     .iter()
                     .map(|&[first, len]| (first, (first..first + len).collect_trusted::<Vec<_>>()))
diff --git a/py-polars/tests/unit/series/test_series.py b/py-polars/tests/unit/series/test_series.py
index 618402ca41d8..52d718084c15 100644
--- a/py-polars/tests/unit/series/test_series.py
+++ b/py-polars/tests/unit/series/test_series.py
@@ -1262,6 +1262,9 @@ def test_mode() -> None:
     )
     assert pl.Series([1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 2.0]).mode().item() == 2.0
 
+    # sorted data
+    assert pl.int_range(0, 3, eager=True).mode().to_list() == [2, 1, 0]
+
 
 def test_rank() -> None:
     s = pl.Series("a", [1, 2, 3, 2, 2, 3, 0])