After starring at Thornridge High School, Mack signed with Iowa State, where he started and averaged 11.8 points as a freshman for a Cyclones team that would make the 1989 NCAA tournament before losing to UCLA.

He was later acquitted when a jury decided that Iowa State football player Levin White, a transfer from USC, had forced him at gunpoint to be his accomplice.

No charges were filed after the Maricopa County attorney's office found insufficient evidence to pursue a woman's claim that Mack raped her in a university dormitory.

[1] After Mack's dismissal from ASU, assistant George McQuarn recommended him to Roy Thomas, the coach at Tyler Junior College.

More importantly, after two years marked by serious run-ins with the law, Mack stayed out of trouble and was recommended to Houston coach Pat Foster.

[1] Mack's final collegiate season was a huge success, as he averaged 17.5 points in 31 games for the Cougars 1991-92 and, along with Bo Outlaw, led them to a 25–6 record and an NCAA Tournament appearance.

He signed as a free agent by the San Antonio Spurs in September 1992 and played in 40 games as a reserve (6.7 mpg) during the '92-'93 season before being waived.

Mack got his big chance to show what he could do at the NBA level in 1996 when he began the year in the CBA playing for the Rockford Lightning, averaging 20.7 points and 4.3 rebounds.

This performance attracted the attention of the back-to-back NBA Champion Houston Rockets, who had recently lost Clyde Drexler to injury and signed Mack to two 10-day contracts in February 1996.