photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas guard Frank Mason III (0) raises up the Fieldhouse during the Jayhawks' comeback run in the second half, Monday, Feb. 27, 2017 at Allen Fieldhouse.

For the 28th consecutive time, the University of Kansas Jayhawks are heading to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship tournament. In case you didn’t hear earlier this week, that’s now the longest streak in tournament history.

KU, the No. 1 seed in the Midwest region, kicks off the tournament Friday in Tulsa. If you’re planning to make the trip, here’s some news you can use.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas guard Frank Mason III (0) raises up the Fieldhouse during the Jayhawks' comeback run in the second half, Monday, Feb. 27, 2017 at Allen Fieldhouse.

The game: KU plays at 5:50 p.m. Central Time on Friday (which also happens to be St. Patrick’s Day).

The venue: Midwest region First and Second Round games are being played at the BOK Center, 200 South Denver Ave. in Tulsa.

The opponent: Either North Carolina Central University or University of California, Davis — whichever wins their First Four matchup today. I find that every March becomes a reason to look up small schools you see in your bracket that you don’t know much, or anything, about but that are apparently pretty good at basketball — like both of these.

A university located in Durham that is NOT Duke, North Carolina Central is a historically black university. Founded in 1909, it became the nation’s first state-supported liberal arts college for black students several years later, according to school history. Their mascot is the Eagles.

UC Davis is in the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. The Aggies’ mascot is a mustang named Gunrock with a rather interesting namesake: A real studhorse named Gunrock spent 10 years at UC Davis as part of an Army breeding program during the early 1900s, and while there he was bred with more than 475 mares, according to the school. The more you know, right?

Next?: If KU wins Friday’s game, the Jayhawks will play No. 8 seed Miami University or No. 9 seed Michigan State on Sunday.

Tickets: There are no tickets available to the public through KU, KU Athletics spokesman Jim Marchiony said. Fans may find tickets through secondary market ticket retailers’ websites.

photo by: Nick Krug

Big Jay rallies the students in the north end zone, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Open practices: All eight First Round teams will practice Thursday at the BOK Center. KU’s slot is 4:25 p.m. to 5:05 p.m., according to a schedule on the BOK Center website. The practices are free and open to the public.

Pregame party and pep rally: The official KU Alumni Association pregame party starts at 2:30 p.m. Friday in Ballroom B of the Cox Business Center, 100 Civic Center (across the street from the BOK Center). A pep rally featuring the KU basketball band and spirit squad begins at 3:30 p.m. A cash bar and concessions will be available.

If KU plays Sunday, a similar pep rally will be three hours prior to the start of the session that includes the KU game.

The drive: Tulsa is just under four hours from Lawrence, according to Google maps. Head out on U.S. 59 and keep going south.

photo by: Nick Krug

The BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Wednesday, March 15, 2017.

The city: BOK Center is in downtown Tulsa. There’s lots of bars and restaurants within less than a mile’s walk. Architecture nerds, be sure to look up while you walk: The city boasts one of the nation’s most extensive collections of Art Deco architecture, according to visittulsa.com, with the Tulsa Art Deco Museum and some of the best representations in the downtown “Deco District.” Other downtown arts attractions include the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame (also inside an art deco style building) and Philbrook Downtown (a satellite of Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum of Art). Elsewhere around town, there are three casinos, the Oklahoma Aquarium and the Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum, among other attractions.

Staying home?: On television, tune to TNT. For full KU basketball coverage from the Journal-World, keep refreshing kusports.com. On Twitter, follow @KUsports. Find an official KU Alumni Association Watch Party in your town online at kualumni.org.

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• I’m the Journal-World’s KU and higher ed reporter. See all the newspaper’s KU coverage here. Reach me by email at sshepherd@ljworld.com, by phone at 832-7187, on Twitter @saramarieshep or via Facebook at Facebook.com/SaraShepherdNews.