It's not often a team shoots 35 percent from the field and wins by 21 points, but it's also not often a single player has 26 rebounds in a single game.
If you're looking for one reason why No. 5 Ohio State blew out No. 10 Stanford 85-64 on Friday night, the answer is Stephanie Mavunga.
While her teammates struggled to hit shots with consistency, suffering an uncharacteristically inefficient game from the field, Mavunga dominated the boards at both ends of the court, pulling down 14 offensive rebounds and 12 defensive rebounds for a career-high 26 boards.
"To be honest, I don't think I've ever touched that before."– Stephanie Mavunga on Her 26 Rebounds
"Our effort and our intensity on the boards was fantastic, in particular Stephanie," Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff said. "That was a big deal in the game, because we didn't shoot it great. We're generally a team that shoots the ball well, but we didn't shoot it well tonight."
McGuff said the extra possessions helped the Buckeyes look good offensively, at least in terms of the final score, even though shots really weren't falling.
With the extra possessions, Ohio State was able to beat Stanford by such a wide margin simply as a result of the volume of shots taken. While the Cardinal scored much more efficiently, the Buckeyes finished with 19 more shot attempts and had 32 second-chance points compared to Stanford's two.
All that started with Mavunga, who had perhaps the game of her life on the boards.
"To be honest, I don't think I've ever touched that before," Mavunga said of her 26-rebound game. "[Rebounding] is something I feel like I can control. I can't control getting the ball or finishing my shots, or things like that. What I can control, and helping my teammates when I'm not doing anything else, is rebounding the ball."
Mavunga said her coaches have placed a heavy emphasis on her rebounding, and want her to focus on it at all times.
"Steph got 26 rebounds in the offseason."– Kevin McGuff
"Coach McGuff has been really pressing on that, both before the game, all season and preseason. Every single day – rebound, rebound, rebound," Mavunga said. "Every single staff member tells me about that every single day. It's like a broken record, I hear it every single day, all the time."
She said she's even been sitting in class and received a text message from associate head coach Patrick Klein reminder her to rebound.
"She got it," McGuff said with a laugh.
Mavunga's rebounding performance on Friday was not just a fluke, McGuff said, but a culmination of all of her offseason conditioning work to get in shape for the season.
"Steph got 26 rebounds in the offseason," McGuff said. "She's in the best shape of her life. She's changed her body. She couldn't get 26 rebounds in any of her first two playing seasons, but she committed to changing her body and getting in great shape."
That's good news for the Buckeyes, because with such a short bench and such small rotations, especially among post players, Mavunga will have to play heavy minutes this season and still perform at a high level.
But if Friday's game is any indication, she's ready to do just that.
