On Thursday at 7:00 PM PT on ACCNX, Stanford women’s basketball will face Miami at home to begin their final homestead of the regular season. Stanford comes in at 14-13 overall and 6-10 in the ACC while Miami comes in at 14-13 overall and 4-12 in the ACC.
Last time out: Stanford got dominated at Virginia on Sunday by a final score of 89-69. Kymora Johnson torched Stanford with 33 points. Stanford got outscored 25-9 in the 1st quarter and never recovered. Nunu Agara did not play for Stanford, which obviously hurt their chances.
BOX SCORE: Stanford at Virginia-Sunday, February 23rd
On Miami: The Hurricanes are not having a good season. Their record speaks for itself. Like most bad teams, they particularly struggle on the road as they are 2-6 away from the confines of Coral Gables, Florida.
Recently, they’ve been playing tough as the lost at No. 10 NC State 76-74 on the road and lost at home to No. 23 Florida State 83-82. They’ve been knocking on the door against good teams, but just haven’t been able to get over the hump. In their last outing, they defeated Wake Forest 62-60 at home.
The Hurricanes are led by graduate student guard Haley Cavinder, who is averaging 18.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. She is playing fantastic and doing all she can to keep her team in these games. Graduate student forward Cameron Williams (11.9 points & 7.3 rebounds) and senior guard Jasmyne Roberts (10.3 points) are also scoring in double figures, providing some help.
As a team, the Hurricanes average 69.4 points per game on 44.3% shooting from the field, 30.8% shooting from 3-point range, and 76.6% shooting from the foul line. They average 36.8 rebounds, 15.0 assists, 7.0 steals, 1.7 blocks, and 16.1 turnovers. They also average a +2.0 rebound margin and a -2.1 turnover margin per game. Their opponents average 69.8 points per game on 41.5% shooting from the field, 31.0% shooting from 3-point range, and 72.9% shooting from the foul line.
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is defend Cavinder. If they can contain her, that’ll make it hard for Miami to do much on offense.
The second thing Stanford needs to do is force turnovers and speed up Miami. Miami is not a great team when it comes to taking care of the ball and Stanford likes to press and apply some pressure on defense. Stanford has to make use of their pressing in this one.
Finally, Chloe Clardy needs to have a big night. Even if Nunu Agara is back, she’ll likely be rusty. Clardy has been balling out for Stanford lately at the point guard and has been doing a great job at running the offense. If she has a strong performance tonight and puts up 20+ points, Stanford should be in a good spot to win.
Prediction: I got Stanford winning 75-70. I think it’ll be a competitive game, but with Stanford being at home, I think they come out on top.
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