After receiving a No. 7 seed for the first time since 1981, the Jayhawks will take on No. 10 Arkansas at Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, Rhode Island, on Thursday.

KU is sorted into the West Region, meaning that if it advances past the first two rounds it will take part in second-round action at the Chase Center in San Francisco.

KU previously faced the Razorbacks in a charity exhibition at Bud Walton Arena on Oct. 25 and lost 85-69.

First-year Arkansas head coach John Calipari, formerly of Kentucky, and KU coach Bill Self have split a dozen official head-to-head matchups in their careers, a total that does not include October's exhibition.

That exhibition was not reflective of the season ahead in a variety of ways, most notably in that KU played without Hunter Dickinson, Rylan Griffen and Shakeel Moore and got more points from Dajuan Harris Jr. (26) than Harris has scored at any point in his career.

Boogie Fland, who put up 22 points for Arkansas in that game, missed much of the season due to a hand injury but is expected to return for the NCAA Tournament.

Led by its guards Fland and D.J. Wagner, the Razorbacks torched KU in that exhibition and prompted some significant preseason hype, especially given that the Jayhawks entered the year at No. 1 in the nation. But Arkansas opened SEC play with five straight losses and spent much of the season on the tournament bubble, though it solidified its postseason status with a string of late victories over Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and South Carolina.

The No. 2/No. 15 matchup in the other half of KU and Arkansas's bracket features No. 2 St. John's, led by another coaching luminary in Rick Pitino, and No. 15 Omaha.