Of course Mark Pope is simulating Memorial Gym's unique setup in practice

Kentucky plays Vanderbilt in Nashville on Saturday, Mark Pope’s first trip back to Memorial Gym since his playing days as a Wildcat. Pope being Pope, he’s making sure his team is as prepared as possible for the venue’s unique setup.

This week, Pope and his staff have been simulating the configuration of Memorial Gym in practice, not only for the players but for the staff. As you may recall, the team benches are on the baseline, not the sidelines. In 2015, the NCAA mandated that Vandy extend the coaching boxes along one sideline so coaches can move down the court to speak to their players. While Pope can walk the sideline to midcourt, his assistants have to stay on the baseline, making it tougher to communicate. The staff has already started using hand signals for plays in case a road venue or Rupp gets loud. According to Cameron Mills, they’ve also been piping in crowd noise.

“The coaching staff, this week particularly to get ready for Vandy, has been working on the mere fact that they know they’re going to be a long way from their team half the time,” Mills said in his most recent practice report. “The benches are in the end zones. The new rule that came in a few years ago, the coaches are allowed to walk the sidelines all the way to halfcourt, but that creates another problem because Coach Pope is so reliant — as he should be — on his assistants, what he brings them in for, what he has them around for, now you’ve got the assistants trying to reach the head coach.

“Mark’s at halfcourt coaching, the assistants have to be able to communicate with him quickly back and forth. Even in practice, and I’ve told you, one of the great things they’ll do in practice is turn on crowd noise, artificial crowd noise in the [Joe] Craft Center just so the team can get used to it but this time, it’s more for the coaches, so the coaches can know that they’re going to be coaching from the baseline so they can be able to communicate with Mark and Mark can communicate with the team.”

That communication will be put to the test against a surprising Vandy squad. Mark Byington is in his first season as the Commodores’ head coach after taking over for Jerry Stackhouse. The former James Madison Coach has led his team to a 15-4 record so far, 3-3 in SEC play. Before losing at Alabama, the Commodores upset No. 6 Tennessee 76-75 in Nashville, prompting fans to storm the court.

Vandy students storm the court after Tennessee’s missed FT clinches the upset: pic.twitter.com/1EhqiXHTcD

— Robbie Weinstein (@rwweinstein) January 18, 2025

Kentucky notched its first true road win of the season two weeks ago at Mississippi State. They’ll need to bring that poise to Nashville to avoid falling victim to Memorial Magic.

Kentucky Basketball is in full swing with #SEC play🏀

Here is Cameron Mills with another @UK_HealthCare Practice Report ahead of their game against Vanderbilt pic.twitter.com/uIcaOjT0yS

— UK Sports Network (@UKSportsNetwork) January 22, 2025