The players say they understand. The coaches beat it into their heads. We writers like to use it as a storyline.But truly, there is indeed something different about playing away from the friendly confines of Rupp Arena.For as great of a seller as John Calipari is, he’s not pitching any type of motive when he talks to his team and the media about the rigors of the road. Since he’s been at UK, every single one of his six losses has come away from Lexington.UK is 27-0 at home under Calipari but 22-6 away from Rupp (not that a .786 winning percentage is bad or anything). Whether the players truly understand the difference, playing on the road games, especially against familiars in-conference opponents, really is tougher.Kentucky, which fell victim to Georgia in its last road trip a week and a half ago, will get another crack at its first Southeastern Conference victory of the year Tuesday night at Alabama (10-7, 2-1 SEC).Calipari is still unsure if his team grasps how much harder it is to play away from home in the league.”I don’t know until we get out there and play,” Calipari said. “We’re talking (about) a young team. We seem to start games better (lately). We seem to play better defense. We haven’t sustained it.”  Slow starts are what plagued UK in its three losses this season, but as of last week, getting out of the gate hasn’t been a problem. Against Auburn, Kentucky rolled out to a 33-9 lead and never looked back and led LSU 40-16 before halftime. But those were at home. The Cats trailed by double digits in two of its three road/neutral losses this year, meaning catch-up isn’t always easy.”It’s hard to win on the road, especially with a young team that’s learning,” Calipari said. “I’ll be honest with you, winning at Louisville, wining that game against Notre Dame, and that Portland game is looking better and better. We’ve done OK. The North Carolina game we didn’t play particularly well and Georgia just beat us up. They were more physical than us. And the crazy thing, both those games we had chances to win.”Coincidence or not, the quick starts of the last two games came with Doron Lamb in the starting lineup and Terrence Jones coming off the bench. After Jones scored a combined 52 points in victories over Auburn and LSU, Calipari is unsure if he’ll keep Jones out of the starting five. “I don’t know yet,” Calipari said. “I’m going to watch practice today. He was really good in practice two days ago and I want to see him today. (We’ve) got to get him to pass the ball. Right now he’s not passing as much as he needs to. We have that movement, and it’s not only that there’s a high-energy level with that other group, there’s also pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass. And if it goes, pass, pass, you hold it, stop. You’re not going pass, pass, pass, pass. You’re going pass, pass, stop. So we’ve got to get him moving.”Regardless of what five begin the game, playing aggressively from the tip has been echoed throughout the team.”We cannot let them take it to us,” senior forward Josh Harrellson said. “We have to initiate everything. We have to be the first ones to score, the first ones to throw the first punch, and from there keep taking it to them and not back off. It is a big step for us as a young team to get ahead of our opponents and not give that up.”Alabama has won four of its last five games on the back of a sturdy frontline. Junior forward JaMychal Green is averaging a team-high 15.4 points and Tony Mitchell isn’t far behind him with a 14.4 points-per-game mark and 7.9-rebound average.”Their inside guys remind me of the Georgia players; very physical, get you near the basket, and if you’re playing half speed, you’re going to get killed,” Calipari said. “(Alabama is) very active in the zone, they trap, they do good things and they run their stuff. They run good stuff. I’m trying to find a tape to build my confidence up and I haven’t found one. The games we played with them last year, they were right (there). They had chances to beat us both games.”Oh, and those road worries — Alabama is 9-0 at home this season.