"Never asked for anything, just came and fought every single day": Mark Pope on signing a Kentucky Jr. on a "one day contract"

The Kentucky Wildcats under coach Mark Pope blew out the LSU Tigers 95-64 on Tuesday evening in their last game of the season at the Rupp Arena. On senior night, there was a special moment when, with 0.2 seconds left to play, walk-on Zach Tow was introduced into the game for the first time this season.

During his postgame news conference, the embattled Pope praised the attitude of Tow, who only joined the team in August on a one-day contract after open tryouts.

"It was a special night," Mark Pope said. "A name that most people don’t know is Zach Tow. Zach actually came to walk on tryouts and we randomly held walk on tryouts and he showed up and he fought through 60 guys in a bunch of workouts and then earned the right to come to practice and be on a one-day contract throughout the entire course of the season. He came and battled every single day, never said a word, never missed a rep.

"Never missed a practice, never was an issue, never asked for anything. Just came and fought every single day. I’m telling that story is a long way around your question about, if you spend one day in this jersey and BBN embraces you for life and that’s really cool."

How Mark Pope unearthed Zach Tow

In August last year, Mark Pope held an open tryout for Kentucky students, offering a pathway to his team and out of 60 players, Zach Tow emerged as the pick to join the team. Tow played basketball at Madisonville North Hopkins High School during the 2021-2022 season and averaged 12.5 points and 11.5 rebounds although he was not offered.

He is the third walk-on in Pope's team alongside Walker Horn and Grant Darbyshire, who were on former coach John Calipari's team. During his postgame news conference, Pope revealed that Tow did not even have a jersey until he was awarded one by Lamont Butler before the game against LSU.

"One of the highlights of the night was, you know, I had some of the guys come to me, in fact, Lamont Butler came to me about a month ago and said I think Zach deserves a jersey, he had not got a jersey all year, he was on a one day contract," Pope said.

"In our pregame speech, Lamont had the pregame speech before the game today and he presented Zach with a jersey. The guys lost their minds. Zach was in stunned wonderment."

Zach Tow was warmly received by Kentucky Wildcats fans at the Rupp Arena when he made his debut for Mark Pope's team.