CLEVELAND — Karl-Anthony Towns is in the conversation for best big man in the country.The 6-foot-11 freshman has turned into a dominant force the last two months of the season and his Kentucky team has come to rely on him.But on Thursday night, the Wildcats got but a point and two rebounds from Towns,  spelling trouble for their quest for a national title and a 40-0 season, right? Wrong.Instead, the Cats tied a Sweet 16 record for margin of victory with a 78-39 throttling of West Virginia.”It’s one of those things that, not many people in the country could ever say that they played the way I played and still come out and win by 39,” Towns said.With Towns limited to 13 minutes by foul trouble and general ineffectiveness, John Calipari instead turned to Dakari Johnson and Marcus Lee. The two sophomores answered the bell, combining for 16 points and 11 rebounds.”Karl gave us ugats,” Calipari said, breaking out some Italian slang, “nothing, and we still win big because of those two, and that’s because we’re playing them.”To Towns’ credit, he was able to relish his team’s success even though it came as he took a step back individually.”That just shows you how deep and how much my brothers had my back,” Towns said. “I think that’s the blessing. You can’t look at individual success. This is the tournament. Individual success doesn’t matter. It matters what the team does.”Kentucky, however, is best when Towns is at his best. And to survive third-seeded Notre Dame and advance to the Final Four, it’s likely Towns will need to regain his late-season form.On a team with an historic level of talent and depth, Towns scored double figures in 10 of 16 outings prior to West Virginia. He averaged 12.4 points and 7.8 rebounds during the stretch, surging to win Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year honors.His teammates expect to see that player back on the floor in Quicken Loans Arena against Notre Dame.”Karl’s a competitor so I expect him to do big things this next game,” Willie Cauley-Stein said.That’s due in part to the fact that his coach demands it of him.”I’ve been harder on him than anybody on this team, but I told him at the beginning of the year, it would be that way because he had a long way to go,” Calipari said. “But I saw his upside being the best big guy in the country, and I’m not settling for anything else.”Neither Towns nor his family would have it any other way.”When he gets off point, I’m right there, but after the game I get a text from his dad: ‘Stay on him, don’t let up, Coach,’ ” Calipari said. “Not: ‘Get him more shots, play him more minutes.’ That’s the greatest thing about coaching these kids, they trust us that we’re about them, we’re about them getting better individually, that I want every one of them to shine, I want every one of them to be talked about. And so when they have a game like that and we still win, kind of takes the pressure off you.”On the season, Towns is averaging 9.7 points and 6.7 rebounds. Solid, but not the kind of eye-popping statistics typical of a player in contention to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft. Towns, playing just 20.7 minutes per game, has the perspective necessary to understand why. “It hasn’t hurt any of us,” Towns said. “I mean, it’s not about the minutes we get, it’s about what we do with those minutes.”Towns will look to be a little more effective with his minutes Saturday night, but that’s still not even his primary concern.”I think that’s the biggest joy I have: the fact I still get to play with my brothers,” Towns said. “We love each other tremendously. It’s just one of those things that it’s not even the fact of playing another game. It’s about who you’re playing another game with. I’ve been given an opportunity to play another game with my brothers and we get to go back out there and lace up our shoes again and hopefully we get to do it again for several more times.”