INDIANAPOLIS — Karl-Anthony Towns sat in a corner locker inside Lucas Oil Stadium speaking at first in tones so hushed you could barely hear him.
Gradually, with a throng of reporters crowded around him, Towns’ voice rose up and he patiently answered every last question, even as he and his teammates had just come off a crushing, season-ending 71-64 loss to Wisconsin here in the national semifinals.
There would be no 39-0, no 40-0, just 38-1 and a sudden, season-ending, heart-breaking loss.
Towns, the projected No. 1 NBA Draft pick from Piscataway, N.J., had never lost a game in his college career until this night, and he hadn’t lost a postseason game at all since losing the New Jersey Tournament of Champions final in March 2013.
“We did something great, but we just weren’t perfect,” Towns said after a game in which he went for 16 points and 9 rebounds, including 5 on the offensive glass.
He added: “It’s one of those feelings, you’re walking off and you think you’re getting ready for Monday, but we just aren’t.”
Towns is projected as the No. 1 pick in the Draft by DraftExpress.com, and many others, including Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller, and possibly Knicks President Phil Jackson.
Asked if he might consider coming back for his sophomore season, Towns shook his head in the affirmative.
But after the emotions settle down in the coming days, Towns is expected to come out.
The Knicks (14-62) own the NBA’s worst record and have the best shot of landing the New Jersey native, while Minnesota and Philadelphia are also in the mix.
“I can’t even think about that,” he said. “I just lost in the Final Four with my brothers, I’m just right now trying to enjoy my time with each other and see my family. Just try to recoup.”
Some of his teammates, including freshman guard Tyler Ulis, suggested this one loss wiped out everything Kentucky had accomplished in this heretofore perfect season.
“It takes everything away,” Ulis said, according to Kyle Tucker of the Louisville Courier-Journal. “All the wins mean nothing.”
Asked how he felt about that sentiment, Towns seemed to agree saying, “In our minds it takes away a lot. Just wanted to finish strong. We’re competitors so we challenged ourselves this whole year to just be the best we could be. Just tonight I think that it just hurts us a lot that we couldn’t bring it back to Lexington.”
He added: “We gotta look at ourselves in the mirror for the rest of our lives.”
Towns was asked how much credit should be given to Wisconsin, which closed the game on a 15-4 run after Kentucky led 60-56 with 6:32 remaining.
“Of course, give them credit,” he said of the Badgers who will play Duke Monday night for the NCAA championship.
Like many of his teammates, he spoke about the finality of the moment, about how this team, this group of “brothers” would never be together again.
Junior center Willie Cauley-Stein all but announced his plans to head to the NBA, and as many as six others, including Towns, could follow suit.
“Like I said, this team is one of the most special teams the NCAA will ever have and I think what makes this team so special is the unity we have with each other,” he said. “And I think that’s why we’re so hurt right now. It’s not the fact that we lost, it’s the fact that this may be the last time that we’re suiting up together and I think that’s what hurts the most. All of us, it’s not even about the game. It’s not about losing. It’s not about getting a ring, it’s about Andrew [Harrison] wanting to give Aaron [Harrison] a ring, and Aaron wanting to give Andrew a ring, and Willie wanted to give me a ring. I wanted to give Willie a ring. I think that’s what shows why this team was so successful this year is how selfless we are, and how much we think about each other before we think of ourselves. That’s why we were so successful, just the fact that we give up so much of ourselves for each other, like a mother. And I think we’re all each other’s mothers in a way. That’s how I really see it, it’s just a family.
“You would do anything for your brothers. If I had to take a bullet for Willie, I would be the first one to take it. If I had to get hit by a train for Andrew, I would have to. that’s not even question. It doesn’t even come through my mind that I would do what I have to do for my brothers. I think that’s why it hurts so much.”
