The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team has had 29-win seasons before, with Southern Conference championships that led to first-round exits in the NCAA tournament.
Realizing the potential of this season's team, coach Jim Foster didn't want that. He has harped incessantly about wanting to see what this group was made of against probably the toughest nonconference schedule in the history of the program.
UTC's Chelsey Shumpert (25) fires a off-balanced shot. The Indiana Hoosiers visited the UTC Mocs in NCAA basketball action at McKenzie Arena on November 17, 2016. Yet another rugged challenge awaits this evening.
The Mocs (5-7) will host second-ranked Notre Dame (11-1) at 6:30 p.m. at McKenzie Arena, with the Irish becoming the third team ranked in the top five at the time they've played this season. UTC lost to No. 1 Connecticut and now eighth-ranked Louisville in November.
How tough has the Mocs' schedule been to date? Their seven losses - to Florida, Indiana, Louisville, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Maine, Connecticut and Florida Gulf Coast - have been to teams that are a combined 65-23.
"We are trying to play NCAA tournament teams," Foster said after UTC defeated Stetson on Dec. 5. "If you don't want to play those kinds of games, then our issues would be too significant to overcome.
"It's going to make us tougher, and we need that."
The Mocs had a two-game win streak snapped with a road loss against FGCU last week. After tonight's game, they will visit Presbyterian (2-8) on Friday before starting conference play next week.
The Irish, whose only loss this season was to the top-ranked Huskies on Dec. 7, are in the midst of a six-game road stretch. Tonight is their last nonconference game before beginning Atlantic Coast Conference play with two more road games.
They play at home again on Jan. 5.
2017 ticket specials
The UTC ticket office has put together two separate specials for the conference part of the season. There is a doubleheader ticket pack that covers the four SoCon doubleheaders at McKenzie Arena - Jan. 21, Feb. 2, Feb. 4 and Feb. 25 - for $55 with seats on the lower level.
The $75 weeknight pack will get fans a lower-level seat for seven games: Jan. 5 vs. the Wofford men, Jan. 11 vs. The Citadel men, Jan. 19 vs. the Western Carolina women, Jan. 25 vs. the VMI men, Feb. 2 vs. the Mercer women/UNC Greensboro men and Feb. 23 vs. the Furman women.
Fans can go to GoMocs.com for more details on how to purchase a ticket package.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.