CHICAGO — As soon as the questions about Kentucky’s early-season matchup with Michigan State started coming, John Calipari had a line ready.With the youth of the Wildcats and uncertainty with which they would enter the No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup, Coach Cal narrowed the possible outcomes into two: winning or learning.There will come a time when the Cats come to realize how much can be taken away from their loss to the Spartans, but that time wasn’t in the locker room following the 78-74 defeat.”You had guys crying in there, which is a good thing,” Calipari said. “That was Michael Kidd-Gilchrist after Indiana (two years ago). So you had kids crying in there, and I want it to hurt like that.”Alex Poythress was ready to start the learning process a few minutes later as he took the podium for UK’s postgame press conference.”We learned a lot about who’s fighting and who can keep it going,” Poythress said. “When the going gets rough, we just keep going.” The Cats have every reason to take pride in that fact.The experienced Spartans did to Kentucky what Calipari feared they would, taking advantage as the five freshmen and two sophomores who comprise his rotation acted their age. Within 3:11, the Spartans were up 10-0 on the strength of UK’s sloppiness with the ball.”They had never been in an environment like this, one,” Calipari said. “And two, when guys get that, that get into themselves a little bit. It’s natural. So now everybody is trying to do their thing and it looks discombobulated and that’s what it was and that’s what I expected.”UK treaded water for the remainder of the first — largely thanks James Young, who scored 15 of his 19 before the break — and trailed 42-30 at the end of the half. It was then Calipari drew up a new game plan on the fly and moved Julius Randle from the perimeter to the post and essentially scrapped his Dribble Drive offense.”Well, we just said at this point, the only time they’re stopping him is when you hold the ball,” Calipari said. “So quit holding the ball. Just take it to the lane and ball fake and shoot it over ’em and if you miss it we’ll send everybody to the glass. That was our offense:  Throw it up and go rebound it.”Randle struggled in the first half, left frustrated by a packed-in Spartan defense as his drives and spin moves were repeatedly thwarted. The second was a different story, as Randle — whom Calipari termed a “fighter” after the freshman’s third double-double in as many games — scored six points within the first two minutes.”He’s a great player,” said Poythress, who was a Calipari-described “beast” with his seven points and 12 rebounds. “When he gets it going we look for him and he just gets it going.”Randle would go on to score 23 of his game-high 27 points — including two free throws that briefly tied the game at 66 with 4:48 left, to which the Spartans responded with a swift 5-0 run — after halftime. He drew multiple defenders on every touch, but never relented. “What I loved about him, he gritted his teeth, was ornery and nasty and he wanted to put them on his shoulders,” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said. “For a freshman, that speaks volumes.”As the final seconds ticked down on the comeback effort, Randle was clearly exhausted. He still managed to score UK’s final basket with 42 seconds left to cut Michigan State’s lead to two points, but had to excuse himself from postgame interviews due to muscle cramps.As Randle got treatment on those cramps, Michigan State’s last possession was probably running through his mind. Opting not to foul with five seconds differential between shot and game clock, UK forced a Denzel Valentine miss, but Branden Dawson was there on the weak side for an easy put-back to clinch a win and end talk of a 40-0 UK season.If not for 16 missed free throws in 36 attempts for the Cats, the conversation would likely have continued. The Cats still believe they will be a good foul shooting team, but Calipari says it’s time for them to take ownership in that area.”My hope is I’m the office at night and it’s 10:30 and they walked 15 steps across the street to go into the practice facility and I see guys shooting them on their own,” Calipari said. “That’s my hope. But we’ll see because they’ve gotta take it on.”After the game, Calipari said he had “no idea” how UK was able to stay within four points of a team as talented and experienced as Michigan State shooting 55.6 from the free-throw line and committing 17 turnovers. The answer  came in the way the Cats rebounded.With Randle and Poythress tirelessly attacking the glass, UK outrebounded Michigan State 44-32 and had 24 second-chance points. Considering the Spartans had 66 rebounds in their season opener, that’s impressive. Considering the history Izzo’s teams have of dominating on the glass, that’s borderline unbelievable.”They beat us in what we do well,” Izzo said.The way these two physical teams traded blows in the United Center, fans and media alike — though it’s only November, as Calipari often repeats — wondered whether the matchup could be reprised down the road.”Well, I hope we do because it probably means we’d both be playing in April,” Calipari said. “So let’s hope we do play. I hate to play friends. I really don’t like playing friends, but if it’s in April I’m fine playing whoever we’re playing at that point.”For UK to reach that point, Calipari knows there’s much work ahead. He anticipated his team wouldn’t be ready for a stage this big at the tip, but they were much closer when the final buzzer sounded.”I knew this would get their attention in the first half,” Calipari said. “The biggest thing is if you don’t do this together you will not win. You’ll never be a special team, so you’ve got to truly do this together and that’s both on defense and offense.”