NASSAU, Bahamas – Karl-Anthony Towns’ credentials entering the Big Blue Bahamas trip were pretty good.He was arguably the gem of the 2014 recruiting class, a top-10 prospect and the newly minted Gatorade Male High School Athlete of the Year. Most NBA analysts have him listed as a top-five pick for the 2015 draft.That’s not to say anyone expected Towns to play like he has thus far in the Bahamas.The 6-foot-11, 250-pound forward has looked dominant at times against older, professional competition. Highlighted by an 19-point, 10-rebound performance in game two of the exhibition tour against Champagne Chalons-Reims Basket, a first-division professional team from France, Towns is averaging 13.0 points and 7.7 rebounds in three games in the Bahamas.Assistant coach John Robic admitted surprise in how far along Towns is at this stage in his career.”I really didn’t know how gifted of a scorer he is,” Robic said. “He has to get stronger, but his skill level is really, really high for a young, young man. And he really hasn’t shot the ball well, and that’s one thing that he can do. But he can score in a variety of ways and he’s just going to be a big piece for us.”Coming to Kentucky, Towns was billed as a skilled big man who could shoot, but he hadn’t necessarily earned a reputation as a back-to-the-basket, put-a-shoulder-into-the-defender post player.Analysts can now officially tear up those scouting reports.Against physical professionals, Towns has mixed it up with the biggest players UK’s two opponents have had to offer, even getting into a dust-up with Matt Lopez in Tuesday’s game against the Puerto Rico national team reserves.That was after, in a team film session after the first game, John Calipari criticized Towns for looking for his outside too much. In that first game, though Towns only took two 3-point shots, missing both, he roamed the perimeter too much. Calipari got on him for taking too many treys during warm-ups instead of going inside and working on his strongest part of game.”He has a tendency to want to be a perimeter big, but in order for him to be the best player in the country, … in order for him to be a professional, in order for him to dominate college basketball, it has to start from the inside-out,” assistant coach Kenny Payne said.Towns got the message and has worked almost exclusively inside the last two games. He’s 15 for 21 from 2-point range so far, including three dunks on Tuesday.”What he brings to this team is super because we need big, long, energetic, skilled guys that can dictate what we’re trying to do,” Payne said.Having said all that, Towns said not to sleep on his outside shooting.”I think that my size sometimes deceives people,” Towns said. “I think people don’t give me as much credit for the perimeter, but that’s just our little advantage that we have.”Poythress not letting upAs his head coach sat alongside ESPNU’s Kevin Connors and Jay Bilas during a segment of UK’s second-half rout of Puerto Rico on Tuesday, Alex Poythress continued what he had been doing all week and threw down a dunk.”Who is that kid?” Calipari exclaimed on air.It’s a good question, Coach. It certainly isn’t the same inconsistent player fans have watched play during his first two seasons at Kentucky.Poythress has always shown signs of brilliance during his two seasons at Kentucky. He’s been a highlight machine at times, but the flashes always seemed to burn out just as quickly as they flared up.Three games definitely isn’t big enough of a sample size to draw conclusions about Poythress’ consistency issues, but there is something to be said about being the most consistent and most dominant player on a team that has shown few weaknesses from top to bottom so far.Poythress, who has drawn rave reviews from different members of the coaching staff after each game, drew another shower of compliments from his head coach while he was on ESPNU on Tuesday.”The best thing he’s doing right now, obviously offensive rebounding,” said Calipari, who added that he still wants to try Poythress more at the three position. “But defensively he’s never played this way. He’s never been able to that active, stay in front of his man, block shots, doing the things he’s doing right now.”Poythress is leading the team in points (13.7) and rebounds (8.0) in the Bahamas, but his motor, which Robic compared to a rebuilt engine, has been the most impressive.”He just does things athletically that you cannot teach and you don’t see very often, and he’s trying to do them more, really without us saying nothing about them,” Robic said. “He’s playing above the rim by himself a lot of times, and we’ve been telling him that for three years.”No cracks yetIf there’s a reason above all others for all the Big Blue Nation pandemonium over this team’s play in the Bahamas, it’s that it’s shown relatively few signs of weaknesses. There aren’t a lot of cracks.But, as Bilas said during a talk with the team Wednesday night, fissures will eventually appear. As Bilas told the Cats, cracks will show with every basketball team, and those cracks will be magnified more so at Kentucky than at any other school because of the spotlight on the program.It will be up to the players to internally filter that noise, or clutter, as Calipari calls it, out.”What can you stop you from accomplishing what your goals are?” Bilas asked the team. “It’s a lack of togetherness. I think you really have to be tough-minded and mentally tough to stay together throughout the course of a difficult season. You have, truthfully, more obstacles that most teams have because of the spotlight that’s on you and every camera is on you. Throughout the course of the year, with the coverage now, you’re going to be talked about as much, if not more than any team in the country and arguably in team in the last 20 years.”As your season goes along, there are going to be people like me, in my job … we’re going to talk about how good it can be. Then we’re going to talk about how good you are. Then, people are going to get bored with that and we’re going to start talking about, how can you beat Kentucky? Then they’re going to start talking about, what are their weaknesses? And they’re going to start hammering. And instead of what you’re really good at it, we will start hammering little things.”Bilas said that consistent hammering will inevitably result in cracks that may exist and even some that may not.”We’re going to be armchair quarterbacks and start talking about your team when the truth is we don’t know,” Bilas told the players. “We think, and that’s fine; we all have opinions. But we don’t know. The people who know are in here. Keeping that at the forefront of your mind is a big deal.”Coach Cal, who said on air with ESPNU that he’s been pleasantly surprised with the ball movement and admitted that this team could be as deep as he’s ever had, echoed Bilas’ warning and gave the UK fan base similar advice.”This could be special,” Calipari said on the UK/IMG radio broadcast. “But you know what? They’ve got to be mentally tough enough to not be sabotaged. And the sabotaging will not come from within; it’s going to come from outside. And for our fans, don’t buy into it. Don’t you buy into it. Don’t you buy. Don’t talk about it. Understand what they’re trying to do. It ain’t going to crack me because you people know I’m like – you ain’t moving me at all. But don’t let it move anybody else.”Playing Ulis and Andrew Harrison togetherPart of that sabotaging Calipari has alluded to is a storyline the UK coach feels like is already being manufactured in the media: How do two point guards like Andrew Harrison and Tyler Ulis, both of whom have been highly productive in the Bahamas, play together and co-exist?Calipari answered that question with another question: Why can’t they play together?”Andrew is so much better than he was a year ago,” Calipari said on the radio. “Now, you’ll have some people trying to break down the team saying, ‘Well, Tyler Ulis, he should …’ That’s just because you have an agenda. Andrew Harrison has been playing his butt off. Tyler, think about it, we’re always going to have a point guard in like that? And, what if I want to play them together some? It’s late in the game and we need another handler and another free throw. Now they’re both in there together.”Both point guards have put up similar stats thus far – Harrison is averaging 6.0 points and 5.0 assists in the Bahamas; Ulis 5.0 points and 4.0 assists – but they have different styles.Harrison is a big guard at 6-6 who can, as Calipari described, “bully” opponents, while Ulis is a jitterbug with a penchant for putting his teammates in the right spot to score the ball.”He’s going to give it to you in a place you can score,” Coach Cal said. “You know what your team does? Everybody runs like crazy because you think you’re going to get the ball. Andrew is doing the same now.”Next up: the DominicansAfter winning three games in three days by an average of 28.0 points, the Cats are expected to face their stiffest test yet when they play the Dominican Republic national team on Friday at 1 p.m. on the SEC Network.The Dominicans lost to Champagne Chalons-Reims Basket in an exhibition on Wednesday, but Calipari says the Cats will have their hands full.”That team is a little different,” Calipari said on the radio. “They’re really good. It’s going to be interesting.”The Dominican Republic matchup features a number of storylines for Kentucky. For one, Calipari coached the team for two seasons. Two, former assistant Orlando Antigua is now the head coach. And then there will be familiar faces on both sides of the ball. Former Wildcat Eloy Vargas plays for the Dominicans, as do former Cardinals Francisco Garcia and Edgar Sosa. Towns is also usually a Dominican team member.With a step up in competition, Calipari is expected to return to the sideline Friday and resume his head-coaching duties.”I’m going to take the next one on the chin for the staff.”