No. 11 Stanford has a chance for payback against Chattanooga, Mocs in Cali for showdown

Game tonight at 10 p.m. at Stanford. Here’s your permission slip to be late to work tomorrow. #nevertoolate #GoMocs pic.twitter.com/KqESrbs65Y

— Chattanooga Mocs (@GoMocsWBK) December 28, 2015

For Chattanooga fans back in Tennessee, the game will be a late one, 10 p.m. ET, so the Mocs drafted a permission slip for those who may roll into work late on Tuesday.

• Chattanooga (8-4) at No. 11/11 Stanford (9-2)
• Monday, Dec. 28 at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET
• Video: Stanford Live Stream (Kevin Danna)
• Audio: Stanford – KZSU 90.1FM ( Joe Lami) || Chattanooga – 96.1 FM The Legend
• Series: 1-0 Chattanooga. The Mocs have never played at Stanford.

Last season No. 11 Stanford traveled to Chattanooga for the first-ever meeting between the two teams on Dec. 17, 2014. The Mocs came away with the victory in the contest, stunning the then No. 7 Cardinal 54-46, despite not scoring a single field goal in the final 11 minutes of the game. The Mocs were led by guard Chelsey Schumpert who scored a career-high 18 points, including five 3-pointers. The junior suffered a knee injury during a game at Indiana on Nov. 17 and will miss the remainder of the season.

Junior forward Jasmine Joyner is the Mocs’ leading scorer at 12.4 points per game along with 8.5 rebounds per outing. Sophomore guard Keiana Gilbert is also averaging double digits with 12.3 points per game, 5.3 rebounds per contest and 2.1 assists per game. There are no players on Chattanooga’s squad that hail from states west of the Mississippi. The entire team hails from the Southeast.

Junior guard Lili Thompson paces Stanford with 17.7 points per game plus 4.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists each contest. Junior foward Erica McCall averages a double-double of 14.1 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per outing.

The head coaches of the teams, Chattanooga’s Jim Foster and Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer, are long-time friends. Both have ties to USA Basketball and have coached at Ohio State. VanDerveer coached at Ohio State from 1980 to 1985 with a .748 winning percentage. Foster was the coach of the Buckeyes from 2002 to 2013 with a .772 winning percentage.

VanDerveer won Big Ten Coach of the Year twice (1984, 1985) and Foster received the accolade four times (2005, 2006, 2007, 2009).

After last week’s victory over Cal State Bakersfield, VanDerveer discussed the importance of not taking any teams for granted and remembering the sting of heartbreaking losses.  The matchup vs. the Mocs starts a string of three straight games for the Cardinal against opponents it fell to a season ago including Chattanooga and Pac-12 foes Arizona and Arizona State.

“I hope we’re well-rested and ready to go,” said VanDerveer. “There are no more easy games. Chattanooga beat us last year, so we remember them. Arizona beat us, Arizona State beat us twice, we remember them.”

Chattanooga is on a three-game winning streak. The team’s last win was a 61-33 rout on the road of UNC Wilmington on Dec. 19.