By Nick Jones, UK AthleticsIn his opening statement following Monday night’s Blue-White Scrimmage, UK head coach John Calipari said he would have liked to see a few guys play with a little more confidence. But for freshman power forward Karl-Anthony Towns, confidence has never been an issue.The 6-foot-11 forward from Piscataway, N.J., brings a rare skill set to a team with more McDonald’s All-Americans than many current NBA rosters. On the offensive end Towns sees the floor exceptionally well for a player of his size, he can space the floor by shooting the ball consistently out to 24 feet, and he has developed more post moves than the average 18-year-old hoops star. Developing these traits on the basketball court comes with the utmost level of confidence and swagger, which is obvious – even to the average fan of the game – as soon as he laces up his size-20 sneakers and takes the court. But Towns, along with a few of his teammates, failed to come out with the type of competitiveness and tenacity the coaching staff was hoping for. “He fumbled balls today,” Calipari said.  “There were some one-handed catches, some rebounds he didn’t bring in. Plays like that, you know, those are plays that are easily made. Go make those.”Calipari watched the majority of the action as a spectator seated at the end of the scorer’s table with his wife, and newly appointed special assistant Tony Barbee. As he grew noticeably more distressed throughout the first half, Cal could not help but intervene during the under-eight media timeout.He marched over to the blue team’s bench, only to have a one-way discussion with his prized freshman big man. When the horn sounded, Towns came out of the timeout with an entirely different mindset. “When the game started out, it was different,” Towns said. “You’re playing for the first time this year in front of all these people, and it’s very competitive. So we’ve got to change the gears. You could see when people started to get a little touchy, and some people started getting scored on, it became competitive because we were trying to win. So once that mindset kicked in, we really turned it up a notch.”Towns finished the scrimmage with totals of 20 points and 13 rebounds while knocking down all six of his free-throw attempts. The Big Blue Nation was spoiled on Monday night in Rupp Arena with the absurd matchups on display, but it was the only real glimpse fans will see this season of the one-on-one battle between Towns and sophomore center Dakari Johnson that takes place each day behind the closed doors of the Joe Craft training facility.  Johnson is every bit of 7-feet tall and 255 pounds. With his bruising style around the basket, Towns awarded Johnson with a nickname of his own: “The bear,” he joked after taking numerous blows from Johnson throughout the scrimmage. “He’s a lovable bear, but not on the court,” Towns said. “He’s competitive and he comes hard every day. So he makes you have to bring your A-game every day too, but I enjoy it because it makes me a better player. It allows me to use my body more.”Even with the undeniable star power Towns brings to this 2014-15 Kentucky team, it’s hard to look past the glow on his face when he starts to rave about his teammates. And with a team that is capable of going 12 deep into the rotation if necessary, there is plenty of praise to go around, especially with the depth on the interior.”You’ve got three 7-footers. You’ve got Marcus Lee. You’ve got everybody around the rim,” Towns said. “You really have to challenge yourself to even have the courage to go inside against all of us. But we make that a focal point as the big men that we protect the rim at all cost. And we make sure that the guards know that we have their back.”With such a loaded roster, especially in the frontcourt, it is typical for an incoming freshman to take a back seat to some of the veteran guys, but not Towns. His confidence in his own ability has him taking a much different approach to his first season as a Wildcat. He is focused on using this year as the ultimate learning experience.”For us to have this opportunity to play at the University of Kentucky with so many great big guys, you’re talking about the best in the whole nation in one gym all the time,” Towns said. “Being able to learn from Willie Cauley-Stein, Dakari Johnson, Marcus Lee, Alex Poythress, Trey Lyles, you’re talking about a lot of different styles that you get to look at every day and try to utilize and implement their skills into your game too.”For those who know Towns, they will tell you he only wants to be great. When he committed to the Wildcats in December 2012, Towns announced his goal of becoming one of the all-time greats in the history of Kentucky’s program. Obviously that is no easy task, but it is clear that the freshman big man is primed and ready for the spotlight. Towns will begin to carve out his legacy on Sunday, Nov. 2, as the Cats take on Pikeville in their first exhibition at 7 p.m. ET in Rupp Arena.