Zach Tow lived his dream with UK basketball. Now, he’s on to the next one
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- Zach Tow spent two seasons on the Kentucky men’s basketball team.
- Tow, who is from Madisonville, joined the program following a series of walk-on tryouts.
- With his college basketball career now over, Tow is aiming to become a lawyer.
Zach Tow didn’t expect any of this.
Not the two years he spent as a Division I college athlete, not being part of Mark Pope’s Kentucky basketball program.
That chapter of Tow’s life officially closed this past weekend.
Tow was one of three members of the 2025-26 UK team — along with fellow reserve Walker Horn and former star guard Otega Oweh — to graduate from Kentucky as part of the school’s May 2026 commencement.
Tow, who appeared in nine games for the Cats over the past two seasons, graduated cum laude with a degree in business administration, with a focus on finance and management. He received departmental honors in both finance and management.
Now, the 6-foot-5 Tow is ready to shift his focus away from the court. The Madisonville native has his sights set on earning his law degree, a process that will begin later this year at UK’s College of Law.
Speaking to the Herald-Leader in March from Kentucky’s locker room at the NCAA Tournament in St. Louis, Tow said his interest in practicing law developed about halfway through his time as an undergraduate.
When Tow was growing up in Madisonville, the parents of his best friend were both lawyers.
“I grew up around that, going to the office. Not working, but being around it, goofing off at the office,” Tow said. “... Basketball is its own passion, and this is (my) second passion. When one door closes, another one opens.”
Before Tow moves into postgraduate life, he took time to reflect on his unexpected college basketball career, the lessons he took from it and what life was like as an unplanned Kentucky basketball player.
“It was definitely surreal,” he said. “I think that’s the best word to say, because I never, ever in a million years expected coming into school that that was what I was going to be able to do.”
Zach Tow joined Kentucky basketball as a walk-on following tryouts
To fully appreciate Tow’s basketball journey, it’s worth recounting how he became a Kentucky player.
Tow played five varsity seasons at Madisonville-North Hopkins High School in Hopkins County. He was part of the 2018-19 Maroons team that reached the Sweet 16 state tournament. During his final prep season in 2021-22, he averaged a double-double with 12.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per contest.
Tow tallied 806 points and 708 rebounds in 117 career prep games at Madisonville-North Hopkins.
That seemingly marked the end of high-level basketball for Tow, who began as a student at UK when John Calipari still led the Kentucky program.
But the Calipari-to-Pope coaching transition during the 2024 offseason changed things. In August 2024, Pope held an open tryout for UK students, providing a potential pathway to joining the Kentucky program ahead of Pope’s first season as coach.
Tow was the only student to emerge from the process. He was on the court for Kentucky’s Pro Day event in October 2024. In March 2025, Tow made his in-game debut for the Cats during a Senior Night home win over LSU, a moment that ex-Cat Lamont Butler was instrumental in creating.
“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,” Pope said of Tow after that March 2025 debut. “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.”
Later that month, Tow was on the floor in the NCAA Tournament as Kentucky secured its first March Madness win of the Pope era.
Tow described that 2024-25 season — during which he earned a roster spot and played his first minutes for the Cats — as “a process getting to the point where I could actually experience everything fully.”
He said he was much more comfortable being part of the UK program during his 2025-26 senior season.
“This year was kind of the full experience,” Tow said. “The actual, special ‘what it means to be a part of the program’ and things like that.”
As a second-year player, Tow leaned into his role as someone familiar with the ins and outs of playing for Kentucky.
This past season also brought more playing opportunities for Tow. He checked into seven of UK’s 36 games. He scored his first point Nov. 26 via a free throw against Tennessee Tech. On Dec. 9, Tow made his only college basketball field goal, connecting on a 3-pointer against North Carolina Central. Those moments are imprints on the UK basketball history book that can’t be erased.
“Getting to get (into games) in Rupp was a big thing. Getting to be able to actually hit the shot (against North Carolina Central) was a big thing,” Tow said. “... Senior Day was so surreal, walking out there to a sold-out crowd. BBN was fully out there. I remember being a part of that, seeing all these people walk out like ‘Wow, that’s it.’”
Tow joined his older sister, Kaylee, in becoming a Division I athlete. Kaylee was the 2017 Kentucky Miss Softball out of Madisonville-North Hopkins, before enjoying a stellar playing career at Alabama, where she was named an All-American three times.
In going through his own athletic experience at Kentucky, Tow developed new bonds with his sister.
“She was a great mentor through all this,” Tow said. “I think we’ve actually grown closer through this, being able to talk to her about anything.”
Zach Tow plans to have a future career in law
Tow said that while nothing is currently set, he’s leaning toward working in corporate law.
“Maybe some mergers and acquisitions, something like that,” he said. “Or I may see what I can do with my law degree and get back into sports.”
It was Pope who announced in early March that Tow’s next stop would be attending law school. During an episode of his weekly radio show, Pope explained how Tow’s law school prep — studying for and taking the LSAT, along with applying for law school itself — was a process that involved the entire Kentucky team.
“I kid you not, it was really fun in the locker room because when he announced to the guys, the guys celebrated. They all feel like they also were accepted into UK law school,” Pope said. “It was a team effort... We’re so proud of him and excited for him. I’m hoping none of my guys need legal help three years from now. But if they do, they know where to go get it.”
Attending law school after playing college basketball at Kentucky isn’t a traditional pathway to take. But Tow said he can apply plenty of lessons to his future career as a result of the two seasons he spent in the UK program.
“Definitely through this, I learned what the value of hard work means, and the value of showing up every day, putting in the work and seeing the results,” Tow said. “I think that will carry over.”
