WILDCATS

Towns leading a UK block party

Steve Jones and Kyle Tucker
The Courier-Journal

LEXINGTON, Ky. - During his illustrious high school basketball career in New Jersey, Karl-Anthony Towns built a reputation as a big man with supreme skill on offense – shooting, passing and dribbling like few near-7-footers can.

And while he's living up to the hype as an offensive threat at the University of Kentucky, Towns is showing there's plenty of defense in his game as well.

Towns, whose top-ranked Wildcats (5-0) will host Texas-Arlington (3-1) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, is the early ring leader of UK's best-in-the-land block party, which is returning shots to sender at a record pace.

Towns has 18 blocks, fourth-most in NCAA Division I through Sunday and twice as many as junior teammate Willie Cauley-Stein, who had 106 blocks last year and entered this season on most people's short list for top shot-blocker in the country.

"I didn't think (the defensive prowess) was going to translate so well to college," Towns said, thanking Cauley-Stein, coach John Calipari and assistant Kenny Payne for helping him. "… I didn't think it would come around this early that I would have this feel on the defensive side."

In UK's 86-28 dismantling of Montana State on Sunday, Towns had six of UK's season-high 12 blocked shots, boosting the Cats' total to 49 and their per-game average this season to a national-best 9.8.

That's better than the 8.6 averaged by UK's 2012 national title team, which set the Division I record for blocks in a season with 344. (That UK team was ahead of this year's squad's pace through five games, however, with 53 blocks total and 10.6 per game.) The national record for blocks per game is 9.1 by Georgetown in 1988-89.

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Towns is no new kid with the blocks.

Although his offense always garnered more attention, last year's Gatorade National Player of the Year averaged 6.2 blocked shots as a senior at St. Joseph High School in Metuchen, and Towns said he's always been committed to defense.

He's – happily - used to rejection.

"In high school I've always felt I was a great shot-blocker, especially in New Jersey," Towns said. "I just always took pride in trying to make sure the rim was always mine. I protected the home. If my dad sees this he'll know, I always protect the kingdom at all costs."

The 6-11 Towns and 7-0 Cauley-Stein are just two of a slew of shot-blocking threats on a UK roster that is surely one of the tallest in college basketball in years. There's also 7-0 Dakari Johnson (seven blocks so far), 6-9 jumping jack Marcus Lee (six) and 6-8 Alex Poythress (four).

Their opponents, even highly ranked ones like Kansas, are finding it hard to deal. UK has had at least seven blocks in every game.

"That's why we come in to these games and we're so full of confidence because we know that if (in practice) we can score on Dakari Johnson and Willie Cauley-Stein and Marcus Lee, you can score on anybody," Towns said.

The Cats have blocked 45 of 174 two-point shots (25.9 percent), which is nearly as many as opponents have made (49) inside the arc. The 2012 team blocked 50 of 210 two-point shots (23.8 percent) in the first five games; opponents made 69 two-pointers in that stretch.

Montana State coach Brian Fish said he's been told UK has the eighth-tallest team in the country – counting NBA teams.

"At times you felt help helpless, and you don't know which guy to attack," Fish said.

Towns is doing his damage without the benefit of major minutes in Calipari's platoon system, in which 10 players each play about half the game.

Towns has blocked 18 shots in five games, playing just 18.6 minutes per game. When Anthony Davis blocked an NCAA freshman-record 186 shots in 2012, he had 22 through five games – in 31 more total minutes than Towns so far.

Towns is averaging 6.6 blocks per 34 minutes – the standard to which Calipari is rating his players' stats this season because the platoon system limits their actual minutes. Davis averaged 4.9 blocks per 34 minutes for the 2012 season and 6.0 per 34 through five games.

According to a KenPom.com formula that estimates what percent of two-point shots a player blocks while he's on the floor, Towns ranks third nationally in block percentage (22.25) and first among major-conference players. Davis' block percentage in 2012 was 13.75.

"(Towns is) rotating better," Johnson said. "Coach Cal wants him to help his teammates, and that's what he's doing. He's coming over from the weak side and helping his teammates. He's learning each and every day. … I expected it. He's very long, and he was guarding me all summer long, so I knew he had that type of potential to be a good defensive player."

Steve Jones can be reached at (502) 582-7176, and Kyle Tucker can be reached at (502) 582-4361.

TUESDAY'S GAME

Texas-Arlington (3-1) at No. 1 Kentucky (5-0)

7 p.m., Rupp Arena, Lexington

TV: SEC Network