Looking Ahead to Stanford Women's Basketball Matchup Against Miami

On Thursday night, the Stanford Cardinal (14-13, 6-10 ACC) will play their penultimate regular season game, with the Miami Hurricanes (14-13, 4-12 ACC) slated to come to town. And while the Hurricanes have seen some struggles this season, that does not mean that Stanford will not be tested.

Arguably the biggest names that will be on the floor are the Cavinder twins, Haley and Hanna, who return to Miami, and college basketball as a whole, after taking last season off.

In the midst of a down year for the Canes, the Cavinder sisters have proven that they belong in the upper tier of college basketball. Haley, who has started in all 27 of the Canes' games thus far, is averaging 18.9 points, 4.6 assists and 6.7 rebounds. Hanna, who has also started all 27 games, is averaging 6.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists.

Haley leads the Canes in points, but the Cardinal will also want to be wary of senior forward Cameron Williams and senior guard, Jasmyne Roberts.

Williams, who transferred from Michigan prior to the start of the season, has put together her best year in college basketball so far, averaging 11.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and one assist. Her strong knack for defending the paint will make it tougher for Stanford to drive to the basket.

Roberts, who is one of the veteran Canes on the roster, has continued to be the elite scorer that she is, averaging 10.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists and providing another scoring option to pair with Haley and Williams. One thing about the Canes is that they will spread the ball around and whomever has the hot hand should be the one expected to keep scoring.

Stanford have had one of its toughest seasons in decades and are at risk of missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1987. In that year, head coach Tara VanDerveer was only in her second season in charge of a program that was two years removed from finishing 9-19 and was still working on building the program into the national powerhouse that it would later be for decades.

This season, under first year head coach Kate Paye, the biggest theme has been establishing an identity with many stars such as Cameron Brink and Kiki Iriafen departing, leaving Stanford without a bonafide superstar for the first time in years.

The game against Miami will be pivotal in multiple ways. For one, beating the Hurricanes would add some momentum ahead of the ACC tournament. Losing to Virginia in their last outing, a win would get the Cardinal back into the win column with the chance to extend their winning streak to two if they are able to beat Georgia Tech in their final game.

A win would also guarantee that Stanford finishes the regular season with yet another winning record. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. (PT) with the game expected to air on ESPN.