Towns changing demeanor, game

By: LARRY VAUGHT

Freshman Karl-Anthony Towns has scored in double figures in four straight games and been SEC Freshman of the Week the last two weeks.

However, he’s made one major change in his play — he’s trying not to smile on the court even though that goes against his friendly demeanor.

“It’s just a different mentality. I wanted to come in really focused. I came in with a killer mentality and tried to do stuff different,” Towns said after Sunday’s win over Eastern Kentucky. “I tried to grow up, I guess you could say. I just didn’t want to be a freshman anymore today.”

Does that mean he is not having fun playing if he’s not smiling?

“It is fun. This is a blast. I’m having a blast every time I’m on the court,” Towns, who averaged 9.4 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, said. “But we’re also very competitive and you have to have that mentality if you’re going to go far.

“I want to change my mentality for the betterment of the team and the best thing I can do is try to give it my all and always be very strict about what I have to do.”

He said the coaches point out plenty in practice that needs to be better.

“Defensively, we still have a lot of things to work on. We have to work on jump stops. This team, EKU, loves to take charges and we have to make sure that we stop driving so much with our head down going to the basket,” Towns, who is shooting 56 percent from the field, said.

“We have to do a little bit of that. The biggest thing for us is always defense. Defense wins us games, not our offense. We just have to keep building on that.”

Kentucky assistant coach Barry Rohrssen seemed a bit taken aback Tuesday when told that Towns did not plan to smile any more in games.

“Is that what he said? He’s got a very nice smile. He really does,” Rohrseen said. “To see somebody with that much talent and is such a nice person is so rare. But if that’s his demeanor, if that’s what’s going to propel him to play like he did in the last game on Sunday, then so be it.”

Rohrssen came to UK from Pittsburgh this year to join coach John Calipari’s staff, but he already knew about Towns.

“Karl has always been on the radar screen. Kentucky did a great job of recognizing him early on in the process. To Karl’s credit, he felt very comfortable here, wanted to play for coach Cal, knew coach (Orlando) Antigua, and again, Kentucky sells itself. He was on board very early in the recruiting process,” Rohrssen said.

“Karl is a bit different in a good way – in a very good way. His priorities always seem in order. He isn’t just a good player, he’s a wonderful person. He’s so well liked in this building, amongst his teammates, on campus, in the community here. Throughout many of the events that we’ve done, Karl has always gone above and beyond even what you ask him to do. Even down in the Bahamas, he as much as anybody wanted to go over and do the Samaritan’s thing. He’s just a wonderful and caring person.”

Towns said he can sense teammates already giving him a hard time about his more serious look in games.

“They know I always go around with a smile on my face, happy-go-lucky. It’s just a change I like and I’m thinking about using it a little more,” Towns said.

He said there was no deep thinking about his new look.

“I woke up in the morning, brushed my teeth — you know good hygiene, that’s the biggest thing. I looked in the mirror and I wanted to be better, wanted to do something a little different than what I’m used to,” Towns said. “I like putting myself outside my comfort zone. Everyone knows my main mechanism for staying who I am is smiling. I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to do something different with my approach to the game (and) continue to experiment with it.”

He hopes his look can be intimidating to opponents.

“If my 7-foot self, my 250-pound body can’t, then I guess that’s another way I can. Going out there, I hope they realize the work I put into the practice gym. That should intimidate them,” Towns said.