UK officially announces Portland game

On Friday, UK officially announced its game against Portland.

UK will play Portland on Nov. 19 as a warmup en route to the Maui Invitational, which will be played on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the following week.

UK has never played a game in the state of Oregon.

The game will be played in the Rose Garden, home arena of the NBA Portland Trailblazers. The game is part of a three-game deal that will have Portland returning games to UK in 2012 and 2013, UK announced.

“When I arrived at Kentucky and first looked at the schedule, we immediately started talking about the possibility of breaking up our trip to Maui by playing a game on the West Coast,” UK Coach John Calipari said  in the news release. “Portland gives us the opportunity to play in a great basketball city with a great venue, and more importantly, gives Terrence Jones a chance to go home and play in front of his family and friends.”

Jones, an incoming freshman, is a native of Portland.

In its release, UK offered fans travel information.

Fans interested in the roundtrip air charter with the UK men’s basketball team and coaching staff via Delta Air Lines from Lexington to Portland to Maui should contact Total Sports Travel at 1-888-367-8781 or send an email to: info@totalSportsTravel.com.

Fans that have already bought the package to fly with the team to Maui will be contacted by Total Sports Travel, UK said.

Tickets for the Portland game will g on sale July 30 at 1 p.m. EDT, UK announced. Those tickets will be available at all Safeway/TicketsWest outlets by calling 877.789.ROSE (7673), at ComcastTIX.com or in-person at the Rose Quarter Box Office (M-F 10a-5p local time). Ticket prices will range from $12 to $50.

Tickets are also available by calling the U of Portland Box Office at (503) 943-7525. Season tickets for the 2010-11 season cost $195 for Upper Level Reserved and $280 for Lower Level Reserved, while flex packs are $75.