Whether they needed it or not, Tuesday was a humbling experience for the Cats. One would expect that for first-year players who, until Tuesday night, didn’t know what it felt like to lose on the collegiate stage. But Tuesday’s loss ended up hurting one player one wouldn’t expect more than any other. Patrick Patterson, the soul and leader the Kentucky men’s basketball team, had his worst outing of the year, scoring a season-low five points. Patterson took just four shots in the game and failed to register a field-goal attempt in the second half for the second time in the last three games.”It was just one of those games where the ball wasn’t rolling my way,” Patterson said. “I was missing shots and I wasn’t providing the effort I should have. It was one of those games where nothing was clicking on my part.”Patterson said no one has taken the loss easy since.”We all took it pretty tough, especially the day after,” Patterson said. “I don’t think anybody had any smiles on their faces. Everybody was just extremely frustrated.”But Patterson took it especially tough. Following the game, message boards ran rampant with speculation about Patterson’s play. Some fans took the loss so hard as to put the blame on the centerpiece of UK’s program for the last two-plus years.Patterson took exception to the criticism, posting a Facebook reply on Wednesday.”To the entire Big Blue Nation, Don’t talk to me or message me about the performances of myself & my teammates OR question our talent, pride or love for this University,” Patterson posted.Patterson responded Friday to his message to the fans, pointing out that it wasn’t anything personal between him and most of the fan base.”I know I didn’t play my best game,” Patterson said. “It was probably one of my worst games ever but for a fan, or a couple of fans, to send me messages on Facebook stating their opinions on my play, how well I represent the university or stating facts or say things about my other teammates was uncalled for and wasn’t necessary. A couple of fans just decided to mess with my Facebook so I just put a little post up just stating how I felt about it.”There are always those couple of fans who are bold enough to say something to you. There are always the fans that bleed blue but also will say some negative things about you and that’s the one percent.”Head coach John Calipari has since talked to his junior forward about the reaction (and overreaction) of both the fan base and his players about the loss, in essence telling Patterson to suck it up.”It’s the first time we’ve lost,” Calipari said. “Now all of a sudden with all the adulation, one or two people write a few critical thought on their Web sites. Well, you’ve got it up there. Your Facebook is up there and that’s part of what this Facebook stuff is. What I told them is 99.9 percent of people in this state absolutely love you. The other four wrote stuff on your Web site, so why would you deal with that? Don’t be mad at the 99.9 percent of people that absolutely adore what you do, how you are, how you perform, what you are doing for our state, university and the program. Take down your site if you can’t deal with it. Don’t have it up. Again, they reacted to some stuff. “Every coach from coach (Joe B.) Hall up told me there is one percent of people in this state that are absolutely out of their minds, you can’t deal with them. The other 99 percent are beautiful, loving, great hearts. You can’t let it bother you.”And besides a minor post on a social networking site he hasn’t.ADespite taking a backseat to John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, lofting just 19 shots, and scoring only 26 combined points over the last three games, Patterson’s poise has not been shaken.”Confidence is not affected at all,” Patterson said. “Everyone has an off game. Even the best players have an off game and that was one of mine. Hopefully it won’t happen again. I’ll just stay focused, just move on, look past it and concentrate on the next day at hand.”Patterson has been putting in about 30 minutes before practice the last few days working with Calipari on regaining his offensive form. Calipari said he often does it with certain players when they’re thinking too much or battling through a slump.”A lot of times when they start spending more time, they feel that, ‘OK, I’m going to get through this,’ ” Calipari said. “This is in their minds. We have guys that do a five-minute shooting drill, make 68 shots, then go in the game and go 1-for-7. How do you do that? It’s more mental than anything else.”The 6-foot-9 Huntington, W.Va., native admitted that he’s been getting away from the bread and butter of his game: playing in the paint. “I think I’m just being more perimeter wise than post wise,” Patterson said. “I’m starting to be more of a perimeter player than post player. I was watching tape from the game and I saw myself not running up and down the court, not being in the post as much, passing first rather than looking to make a play and trying to get one of my teammates open. I was just being too hesitant on the court.”Calipari wants his veteran star to become more assertive and demand the ball, but he made sure to point out that Tuesday’s loss was far from just Patterson’s fault, even calling superstar sensation John Wall’s performance against South Carolina “awful.””Until I watched the tape I didn’t realize it,” Calipari said. “(Wall) did not run our team, broke off plays and stopped on defense. John Wall really hurt us. He had a breakout that he tried to dunk instead of get an and-one. We had a lob that he didn’t come down with. He tried to shoot it from his hip. They are not machines. There is going to be five or six games a year we are going to play awful.”Even the stars fall from the sky sometimes.”It was just one of those days,” Patterson said. “It happens to the best of us.”