UTC women's head basketball coach Jim Foster directs players during the Lady Mocs' basketball practice and their Mocs Club Basketball Open House event Oct. 29, 2014, in Chattanooga.After starting with two games against teams from the Big East as well as a close loss to a team from the much-improved American Athletic Conference, it would seem that the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team started the 2014-15 season with some tough tests.
The Mocs haven't seen anything yet.
UTC coach Jim Foster's 2-1 team wraps up its first road trip of the season today with a 5 p.m. game against No. 3 Notre Dame. After that, the Mocs return home to play Austin Peay on Monday before taking on No. 4 Tennessee on Wednesday night at McKenzie Arena.
Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw is well aware of UTC's reputation as a dangerous mid-major program over the past 10 years or more.
"It's a very well respected program," she said in a phone interview Thursday. "A perennial NCAA tournament team, and nobody wants to play a team like that in the tournament. (Former UTC coach) Wes (Moore) really did a great job while he was there, and Jim is continuing that tradition.
"They've got a really athletic team, and a really up-tempo defensive team."
The Fighting Irish (2-0) are coming off a 71-63 win over No. 15 Michigan State on Wednesday, with junior guard Jewell Loyd scoring 28 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Freshman Brianna Turner had 17 points in the win, and sophomore Lindsay Allen had 14 points and nine rebounds.
With a starting lineup that includes a freshman and two sophomores, McGraw expressed some concern about her team's progress heading into today's game and a busy schedule leading up to Thanksgiving.
"We're really a work in progress," she said. "We're trying to figure ourselves out and figure out our identity. We're in a really tough stretch right now. Played (Wednesday against Michigan State) then (tonight) and Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, so five games in about six days.
"We're tallented, but we're just not where we need to be right yet."
McGraw and Foster know each other well. Foster brought McGraw back to her alma mater as an assistant coach at St. Joseph from 1980 to '82, launching a college coaching career that has included 665 wins, an NCAA national championship in 2001 and a trip to the tournament title game last season.
"Muffet has got a great thing going right now," Foster said Monday at the Chattanooga Quarterback Club. "It's one of those destination schools she can recruit well.
"She's very guard-friendly. She was a very talented guard, and she understands guard play and ... what makes it work, and she's attracted a lot of good ones."
While it would seem that McGraw would be relishing a chance to pit her team against a young midmajor team after a tough game Wednesday, she expressed regret about having to try to beat her mentor and friend.
"I'm actually a little disappointed that we're playing this game," she said. "I don't like to schedule my friends.
"But Jim really wanted to get back to playing each other, and it's going to be really great to see him except for those 40 minutes during the game."
For the UTC players, they have a bit of insight on how the Irish will play from newcomer Sydney Vanlandingham. The redshirt sophomore transfer from UT-Martin played against Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA tournament during in her freshman year with the Skyhawks two seasons ago. Vanlandingham scored two points in 11 minutes of action in a 97-64 loss.
"They're a very well run team and they have a lot of athletes," she said Tuesday before boarding the bus for Indiana. "They've lost a few players since I've played them, but Jewell Loyd was a freshman when I played against them. She's a little bit like (UTC freshman Keiana Gilbert), but taller, can take the ball one-on-one and a good shooter.
"And they have a lot of girls that can play in and out -- either take the ball to the rim or shoot the ball from distance."
Foster echoed Vanlandingham's praise of Loyd -- who is averaging 24 points and eight rebounds per game this season -- and hopes getting an up close look at that level of talent can help his young team.
"The kid Jewell Loyd that they have now, wow," he said. "I'm hoping that Keiana (Gilbert) looks at her, because they have similar attributes physically but Loyd has a jump shot that is otherworldly.
"She's legit, so it will be fun."
UTC junior Alicia Payne has seen her share of tough games in her time with the Mocs, and the veteran said she and her teammates are not scared of the challenge that faces them.
"We knew from the beginning of the year that we're going to play Notre Dame," she said. "We just need to go out like we play any other team. We should be focused and be 100 percent ready no matter who we're playing.
"I think it's going to be a fun game, it's going to teach us a lot and we're going to see how far we can go in the future."
Contact Jim Tanner at jtanner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6478. Follow him at twitter.com/JFTanner.