Stanford vs. Oklahoma State:
Will Cowgirls’ Natasha Mack block Stanford’s path?
Oklahoma State’s Jim Littell, the Big 12 Coach of the Year, said all the right things about Stanford after the Cowgirls’ 8461 rout of Wake Forest on Sunday.
“Stanford’s got one of the premier programs in the country,” Littell said in a Zoom news conference. “They’re just high level (in) every phase of the game.”
Littell’s team, the eighth seed in the Alamo Region, faces the Cardinal in an NCAA Tournament secondround game Tuesday night in San Antonio.
Stanford (262) owns a 15game winning streak and is the No. 1 overall seed in the field of 64, but Littell has reason to believe Oklahoma State (198) can prevail.
“It’s just a comforting feeling to know that you’ve got the leading shot blocker in the country sitting back there, waiting on people,” Littell said.
He was referring to Natasha Mack, the 6foot4 senior forward who tops the nation in blocked shots per game at 4.1. The Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, blocked her requisite four shots against the Demon Deacons.
Mack also stuffed the stat sheet with 27 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and two steals.
“Mack just really came ready to play,” Littell said. “She’s special, and when she comes that way, she’s an elite player.”
She averages 20 points and 12.4 points per game.
Stanford guard Kiana Williams said Mack is “going to be a handful down there. … I’m excited for the challenge for our bigs.”
Cameron Brink, a 64 freshman, and Fran Belibi, a 61 sophomore, figure to spend the most time trying to contain Mack.
Of course, the Cowgirls will have a challenge in trying to contain the Cardinal. Williams went 6for11 from beyond the arc and scored a gamehigh 20 points as Stanford thrashed Utah Valley 8744 on Sunday night.
She passed Candice Wiggins (295) for the most career 3pointers in program history. Williams has 300.
“We have the 1seed by our name for a reason,” Williams said. “We don’t necessarily want to prove other people right. We want to prove ourselves right. We know how good of a team we are.”
Littell knows how good of a team Stanford is, but he said that in his postgame lockerroom speech, he told his players, “Let’s play loose. Let’s play comfortable. Enjoy the fact that you got here and let’s turn it into March Madness.
“Expect to win and expect high things of yourselves.”
Briefly: Talk about dominant. Here are the margins of victory in Stanford’s past five games: 39 over Cal, 39 over USC, 34 over Oregon State, 20 over UCLA and 43 over Utah Valley. … Oklahoma State’s No. 2 scorer is 55 guard Ja’Mee Asberry, who averages 17.4 points per game. She’s also the Cowgirls’ assist leader at 3.8 per game.