Stanford women will face tough center, crowd at K-State

Stanford's Alanna Smith (11) gets past New Mexico State's Brooke Salas (2) and Brianna Freeman (24) to put up a shot during the second half of a first-round game in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament Saturday, March 18, 2017, in Manhattan, Kan. Stanford won 72-64. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) less Stanford's Alanna Smith (11) gets past New Mexico State's Brooke Salas (2) and Brianna Freeman (24) to put up a shot during the second half of a first-round game in the NCAA women's college basketball ... more Photo: Charlie Riedel, Associated Press Photo: Charlie Riedel, Associated Press Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Stanford women will face tough center, crowd at K-State 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

MANHATTAN, Kan. — Two years ago, when Jeff Mittie took the head-coaching job at Kansas State after 15 years at TCU, he wanted to use the triangle offense.

He called his friend, Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer, who had run the triangle with Jayne Appel and the Ogwumike sisters, Nneka and Chiney. “You’d better have a center,” she told him.

His center was sophomore Breanna Lewis, who had averaged 5.7 points and 4.6 rebounds as a freshman.

“I like to force-feed those kinds of players as opposed to baby-step them,” he said.

Now, as a senior, she’s a force: 6-foot-5 and strong, able to score with either hand, and the top shot-blocker in program history. When Stanford duels with K-State on Monday, she’ll be the biggest obstacle standing between Stanford and its 10th straight trip to the Sweet 16.

The winner will travel to Lexington, Ky., for the third round.

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The Cardinal (29-5) are the No. 2 seed in the Lexington Regional, behind Notre Dame, and the Wildcats (23-10) are the No. 7 seed. K-State — like the “lucky dog” in a NASCAR race that gets put back in the lead lap on a caution — was made the host team because Stanford’s Maples Pavilion was used for the Pac-12 gymnastics meet.

“I became a fan of the Stanford gymnastics team about two weeks ago,” Mittie joked.

A crowd of 5,000-6,000 is expected for Monday’s game. Kansas State drew 12,528 when it lost to No. 1 UConn 75-58 in December, but the school is on spring break, which might cut into the attendance.

“This is the tournament experience and environment that everyone is waiting for, and we are lucky to have it,” Stanford guard Brittany McPhee said. “So I will just pretend that they are cheering for us.”

VanDerveer pointed out that the Cardinal played — and won 72-68 — before a sellout crowd of 10,000 at Washington. “They were purple, too,” she said.

Just as the Huskies had two special players, Kelsey Plum, the nation’s leading scorer, and Chantel Osahor, the nation’s leading rebounder, the Wildcats have Lewis and 5-7 guard Kindred Wesemann. Both were All-Big 12 first-team selections.

Wesemann led the conference in three-pointers per game (2.7). But her 35 percent accuracy from long range is well below that of Stanford sharpshooter Karlie Samuelson, whose 48 percent ranks third in the country.

Samuelson hit 5 of 9 from beyond the arc in Saturday’s much-harder-than-expected 72-64 win over New Mexico State in the first round.

“Our defense is what we pride ourselves on,” Samuelson said. “We had a couple of lapses, but we didn’t take them lightly.”

Those lapses might be even more costly if they continue against K-State, one of the tallest teams in the country. The Wildcats are one of just three teams nationally with six players 6-3 or taller. Seven teams have five, including Stanford.

The Cardinal’s bigs, especially Erica McCall, Kaylee Johnson and Alanna Smith, are expected to double-team Lewis early and often.

As VanDerveer pointed out, Lewis — who averages 14 points and 8.4 rebounds — will be a challenge to guard, but she’ll have a difficult task defensively herself.

“She does have great size, but I think she will be challenged to keep up with” Stanford’s bigs, VanDerveer said. “I think we have four or five people that can go against her, so we are really going to a tag-team.”

Although Lewis hits 56.1 percent of her shots, mainly on the low block, she is not a good foul shooter. She is shooting 52.7 percent from the line, and that’s an improvement over last season’s 47.4.

Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tfitzgerald@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @tomgfitzgerald

Monday’s game

Who : No. 2 Stanford (29-5) vs. No. 7 Kansas State (23-10)

Where : Manhattan, Kan.

When : 3:30 p.m.