In this April 7, 2008 file photo, The Kansas Jayhawks mascot Big Jay is shown during the championship game at the NCAA college basketball Final Four in San Antonio.

Rock ... Chalk ... Jayhawk ... KU.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team will play its first Division I game of the 2012-13 season in legendary Phog Allen Fieldhouse at Lawrence, Kan.

The Nov. 15 contest at Kansas will be the sixth time the Mocs have played against a national runner-up - the Jayhawks lost to Kentucky in the 2012 title game - including last season when UTC played at Butler.

"We are getting to go to a historical place," UTC coach John Shulman said. "And on the back end, we get to host several teams as part of the CBE Classic."

UTC will hold its Blue-Gold game on Nov. 6 and then host Tennessee Temple on Nov 12 before heading to Kansas.

The season will continue Nov. 18-20 with the CBE Classic in Chattanooga with Louisiana Tech, Southeast Missouri and Troy as participants. Then after a short bus ride to Kennesaw State, the Mocs will host Davidson in their Southern Conference opener on Dec. 1.

UTC will play at LSU on Dec. 11 between home games against Eastern Kentucky and Mercer. The Mocs will play Reinhardt - one of two non-Division I teams on the schedule - on Dec. 21 in a pre-Christmas noon special.

Shulman's squad will start the 2013 calendar year with a trip to Georgia Tech. Then the conference season begins in earnest with the Mocs going to Samford and then visiting The Citadel and College of Charleston the next weekend.

Read Thursday's Times Free Press for more information.