John Calipari isn’t known for his brevity, but it took him only nine words to sum up Kentucky’s season opener.”First half was good,” Calipari said. “Second half was not good.”The first half saw UK suffocate Grand Canyon defensively and build a commanding 43-16 lead. The Wildcats (1-0) held the Antelopes (0-1) to 25 percent shooting and forced 13 turnovers. In the second half, Grand Canyon refused to back down, actually outscoring UK by two points through the first 13-plus minutes before the Cats finished strong for an 85-45 victory.”I think the first half we played at a pretty good level,” said Willie Cauley-Stein, who was all over the floor with 12 points, five rebounds, four blocks and two steals, ‘and then the second half we kind of let go of the rope a little bit and didn’t play as physical and as determined.”The physicality is what most caught Coach Cal’s attention.”The other thing that happened is it got physical and it became a little bit of a fight,” Calipari said. “We had guys not be able to make plays. They walked, missed one footers when things got physical. That’s going to be an issue for us.”On offense, the failure to respond to physicality manifested itself in post-ups that came too far away from the basket, which led to those misses from around the basket. With their depth, size and athleticism, the Cats were often able to grab their own misses, to the tune of 24 offensive rebounds and a 51-21 overall rebounding edge, but the issue remains.On defense, UK struggled guarding dribble penetration after the break, which was clear within minutes. The second platoon of Tyler Ulis, Devin Booker, Trey Lyles, Marcus Lee and Dakari Johnson, which held GCU scoreless in the first half, allowed six points on the first four possessions of the second half. Immediately, Coach Cal called for the first platoon to check back in.”They came in, they scored too many buckets on us,” Ulis said. “Like you said, we kept them to scoreless in the first half, but the second half we came out a little lazy. We got stuck on defense and they hit a couple (shots) on us. So he wanted to make an example and told us we would sit if we don’t get stops.”It was the first of many lessons for the three freshmen on the second platoon. Minutes later, UK’s fourth freshman, Karl-Anthony Towns, got a similar lesson when Coach Cal pulled him Johnson after a lapse of focus that led to a turnover.Playing with a big lead, it turns out, isn’t always easy.”That’s what we need to work on,” Ulis said. “We have to come out still ready to fight. Just look at it as the score is zero to zero, just try to go out there and play and keep the pressure on.”Cauley-Stein is in his third year playing for Coach Cal and he’s still working to put that message into action.”It’s tough,” Cauley-Stein said. “And if you’re young it makes it worse because you’re not used to that. You’re not used to playing at a level that Coach wants you to play at all the time. It just comes with the experience of playing the college-level game. As you get older, you realize what Coach is saying. It will just come.”The Cats experienced a measure of the adversity Coach Cal said they needed in that second half, which only figures to help as UK takes the floor again on Sunday at noon against Buffalo and then on Tuesday against No. 5 Kansas in the Champions Classic.”They came out, they punched us in the mouth the second half, but we just have to keep going, learn from our mistakes and improve,” Ulis said.Cauley-Stein, however, says the real learning won’t happen until later. He remembers last year’s game against Michigan State well, when the Cats fell behind by double digits before the even scored a point.”Once it gets harder, then dudes are going to find out that it’s real, it’s the whole game,” Cauley-Stein said. “Especially if you come out flat and you get hit in the mouth first, it’s rough. It’s going to be a rough game after that. So you’ve got to come out and throw the first couple of blows and let them know you’re here and you’re going to find the rest of the game.”Even so, seeing what can happen when an opponent outmuscles them was a good learning experience for the Cats.”It’s good that it happened because we were able to talk about it and we’ll show it on tape tomorrow,” Calipari said.And when you have a roster like Coach Cal does, you get to teach from the tape of a 40-point win.