LEXINGTON, Ky. — Ahead of his first visit to Memorial Gym as the Kentucky Wildcats’ head coach, Mark Pope fondly recalled his past as a UK basketball player in the oddly configured arena.

“I love that gym,” Pope said Thursday afternoon, two days before his No. 9-ranked Cats were set to play Vanderbilt there. “Just because I have one great memory.”

Pope — nearly 29 years to the day after he last played in the gym, which has the unique feature of positioning benches on the baselines instead of the sidelines — looked back on a “tough game” the Cats were playing against the Commodores during one of his two trips as a player.

Rick Pitino’s team was making a run to get some separation in the second half, and Pope recalled the Cats getting out in transition, with either Tony Delk or Anthony Epps — he couldn’t remember who — leading the break and hitting him with an over-the-shoulder pass.

“And I ran in and dunked it,” Pope said, reliving the moment with delight. “If I remember correctly, I barely got it over the rim and got fouled. And then Coach P was standing right there, and so I got to go chest-bump him. And I don’t think Coach was super happy about that, but I’ve always loved the configuration of the gym since that moment. I think it’s a great venue.”

The Cats were 2-0 in the arena during Pope’s playing days: a 71-60 win in 1995, in a game UK trailed at halftime; and a 120-81 beatdown in 1996, when the Cats did little wrong all season.

Asked Thursday if he had a favorite SEC road venue from his time as a player, Pope thought on the question.

“Man, all the venues are so good,” he said. “You know, I haven’t been in a lot of these venues since I played. And I have distinct memories from almost each one. And I actually don’t know — right now, as I’m thinking about it — I don’t actually know if I’m allowed to talk about them, because I could get in trouble if I say some of these things.”

Pope, clearly enjoying the stroll down memory lane, settled on one, in particular.

Back then, Arkansas and Kentucky were the cream of the crop in the conference. The Hogs won the NCAA title in 1994 and lost in the championship game in 1995. The Cats won the national title in 1996 and 1998 and were national runners-up in 1997. UK vs. Arkansas in those days was a must-see event, and the two teams played each other just once in the regular season.

During the 1994-95 campaign, it was the Hogs’ turn to host.

“I’ll never forget going to Arkansas, and we pulled up to Bud Walton, and the bus couldn’t go down the slope to get into the tunnel because it was snowing. It had snowed. Like, inexplicably, kind of like right now,” Pope said, the snow in Lexington still melting outside. “And then all the students were out waiting around the outdoor concourse — waiting to get in — and so Coach stood up on the bus … and I didn’t know what he was going to say.”

Pitino’s orders were unexpected.

“Listen, when we get out of this bus, I’m pretty sure that you’re going to get pelted with a bunch of snowballs,” the UK coach told his players. “And I fully expect you to return fire.”

The Cats did as told.

“And so we went sliding down the ramp, hurling snowballs, back and forth with the Arkansas fans,” Pope said with glee. “Like great moments like that. I probably have a moment like that with every one of these venues. It’s a really great league, and it’s better than it’s ever been. It’s incredible right now, and these venues make it really special.”

That ended up being Pope’s only SEC road loss as a Kentucky player. The Cats went 15-1 in conference away games during his two seasons as a Wildcat.

The Vandy game Saturday is the third road matchup for the Cats, who will play nine league games away from Rupp Arena this season. They’ve already lost at Georgia and won at Mississippi State. The trip to Nashville is the beginning of a stretch with three road trips in four games. It’ll be No. 6 Tennessee in Knoxville on Tuesday and No. 16 Ole Miss in Oxford on Feb. 4.

After that, UK will still have to go to Alabama, along with trips to Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri — three programs that weren’t in the SEC when Pope was a player.

Pope has talked often about the number of great teams in the league — nine are currently ranked in the AP Top 25, and 13 have been ranked at some point this season — and, even with all those formidable squads, Kentucky is still the visiting opponent that gets SEC home crowds fired up the most.

Three decades ago, Pope lived through it as a player. He’s now getting to see his Wildcats — all of them new to UK basketball — experience navigating the SEC road with a target on your back.

“I think the guys know it better now, right?” he said, with two such games under his team’s belt. “They know it. And it’s like an added bonus. It’s like, when you come to Kentucky, you know there’s so many great things, and then every day there’s something else great that you get from coming here. It’s really true. It’s true as a coach and a coaching staff also — it just gets better and better every day, right?

“And so I think, with our guys — that’s one of the things, they’re like, ‘Wow, I knew this was gonna be great, but this is incredible. This is so great.’ And so I think our guys just can’t wait to get back out on the road and go experience another insane environment and find a way to win. I think that group’s built this way. We really love it. And it’s a gift. It’s one of the gifts about being able to play here is that it doesn’t matter where you go, it’s like the greatest environment ever. And that’s what you want. So we’re really blessed to have it.”

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