Calipari has lofty goal for Karl Towns

By LARRY VAUGHT


Photo: Vicky Graff

By the time the year ends, Kentucky coach John Calipari has a lofty goal for freshman Karl-Anthony Towns.

“By the end of the season, I want Karl to be the best big man in the country. That he plays pick-and-roll as good as any big man. See, if you can't play pick and roll, you understand that next level it's you got an issue,” said Calipari after Tuesday’s win over Vanderbilt. “I want him to be someone that when you watch him, he's unbelievable in pick and roll. That, if you don't double team him in the post, he'll score.

“That he'll get, if he doesn't score, he's going to get you to foul. He's not playing that way right now. A guy that there's times we can put him in pick and slide him to the elbows and let him shoot some jumpers.”

Towns scored UK’s first basket against Vanderbilt, then did not have another field in 18 minutes of play. He finished with four points, four rebounds, career-high seven blocked shots and one steal.

“Go rebound that ball. Go block shots, go do those things offensively. Fly. Physically, he's not mature enough in those legs, it's hard for him to stay down and fight. He wants to do it upper body. Well he's 18, 19 years old, that's why. But my vision is, by the end of the year, he is the best big guy in the country,” Calipari said.

Towns takes the praise — and constant prodding he gets from Calipari and the UK coaches — in stride.

“I never knew I was going to the NBA,” Towns, who has been projected as a top five pick in the June draft by some analysts, said. “Next year, after we do what we need to do, accomplish our goals. We’re going to make sure I’m playing the best defense on this team, the best I can possibly. Right now there’s no mindset right now of the NBA. I’m just worried about what I have to do to make it to be the best player for this team and for my brothers.”

“I just want to be the best. I’ve gotta be a way better pick-and-roll guy, and I’ve been working on it a lot. I’m proud of today and recent games of pick-and-roll defense. It’s just about effort, energy, and also when you have No. 15 (Willie Cauley-Stein) helping you out every day in practice it makes the transition into pick-and-roll defense and offense much easier.”

He says he wants to be the”best defender on the court” and was happy with Tuesday’s results.

“I tried to get steals, I tried to get blocks, and I tried to hold my opposition to zero points,” Towns said. “I was trying to get 10 (blocks), I really was. I was trying to get double digits, but I have a lot more games to try.

“”I came in with a big-time defensive mindset. I wanted to just come in — and it didn’t hurt that my cousin was on the other team. I had to make sure I let him know not to come in the paint since he was talking a lot about coming in the paint. So I wanted to make sure he knew what the deal was. I’m glad I was able to be a menace on defense tonight. I’m trying to do this for the rest of the season. It’s great preparation, just having the best coaching staff in the country and having the best players also, it doesn’t hurt.”

Towns said he was able to utilize a lot of what Cauley-Stein has been teaching him against Vanderbilt.

“You’ve got to use length. Big-time use length and just working on my feet and everything, just trying to be quicker, (a) better defender, trying to guard all five positions like him, but it’s a process,” Towns said when asked what he has learned from Cauley-Stein. “He’s a junior, I’m a freshman. It takes time, but I’m glad to see it starting to click. But also, it comes from the energy too. I need to put that in every game we play, have that defensive mindset.”

He said he doesn’t look at stat sheets, but if he does it is to check out his defensive numbers.

“I want to see deflections, steals, blocks. I want to see how I did on the rebounds,” Towns said. “Points just come. Points come. That’s what I worry about. What I can give the team the best on any given day I want to do.

“Defensively, today, I tried to help the team as much as possible so we can get a W and we did a great job helping me through this week ... great preparation, just this process I’m going through.”

He says his goal is to be the best big man in the country like Calipari wants him to be. But he wants even more.

“I don’t want to just be the best big man, I want to be the best player. Anytime I step on the court I’m trying to, not prove myself, but I just want to play. I want to play as hard as possible and I just want to be the best player I can be for this team,” Towns said. “If people think that I’m the best player, the best big man, the best player in the country, then that’s fine.

“What I’m worried about more is being the best player for this team that I can be. Everything else, if people want to say what they want to say then let them say, but I want to come out with a national title. That’s the biggest thing. I’m not worried about who’s the best, who’s this, who’s that. I’m worried about the team: that team was, that team is, that’s what I’m worried about.”

Towns said he feels great physically after helping UK start the season 18-0.

“I feel really good. I’m jumping as high as I’ve ever jumped and timing, quickness ... they work on me so much with my whole body that it’s just, it’s coming to the front right now. Playing really well defensively. I’ve just got to put both sides of the ball together and I could be real special,” he said.

“It’s all about winning. I love winning. That’s all I’m about. You’re winning, you’re high as the clouds can take you. I’m touching the stars when I’m playing, so I’m having a lot of fun right now. We’ve just got to keep it going. We’ve got to stay on the defensive end. We’ve got to stay tenacious on the offensive end. We have to get it together. If we can do that, we can be special.”