Toughness. Fight. Determination.

Three words that each college basketball team needs to know if they want add another tally in the win column.

UK didn’t know those words on Thursday night.

Instead, one could say the Cats were more familiar with the words “settle,” “hesitant” and “soft.”

The No. 1 ranked Cats traveled to Pauley Pavilion for the first time in school history and left with the team’s first loss of the season in an 87-77 debacle.

After UK hit the opening bucket of the game just 28 seconds in, it may have seemed like the team would do what it usually does – cruise to another double digit victory. But that idea quickly faded as UCLA scored nine-straight and gave UK its largest deficit of the season.

Before Thursday’s game against the Bruins, the Cats’ largest deficit of the season was six points, coming against NJIT and Illinois State. UCLA, on the other hand, led UK by as much as 15 in the second half.

It was an energy problem. Heading into the game, UK outrebounded its opponents by an average of 10.4 rebounds per game. Against UCLA, the Cats were outrebounded by one, and allowed the Bruins to shoot even better in the second half (56 percent) than they did in the first half (50 percent).

No one was diving for balls, no one was showing intensity, no one had any energy.

Well, there was one guy who had some for UK.

Isaiah Briscoe had energy. In his 27 minutes of play, Briscoe had a team-high 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Briscoe drove relentlessly to the basket on the offensive end, then made his presence known on the defensive end by knocking away balls and forcing turnovers.

It was a Skal Labissiere problem. The freshman was held to just six points and one rebound. Marcus Lee, who left the game early with an injury, had more rebounds in his four minutes of play than Labissiere had the entire game.

Labissiere was overwhelmed by the bigger and more physical duo of UCLA forwards Tony Parker and Thomas Welsh. The two had a combined 32 points and 14 rebounds. He shied away from contact and was a non-factor in his first true road game.

And it was a Tyler Ulis problem. More specifically, it was a Tyler Ulis elbow problem. The leading point guard for the Cats couldn’t straighten his arm out and it hurt his game. You could tell on Thursday through his hesitation to take open shots he was not the player he usually is.

And when your team’s player who makes those around him better isn’t playing his best basketball, winning doesn’t come so easy.

In the seven seasons John Calipari has coached at UK, the Cats have now lost their first true road game in five of those seven seasons. And that isn’t as surprising as it should be considering how young Calipari’s teams are – which could be the positive takeaway from the UCLA loss.

The UCLA game is a teaching moment for Calipari to this year’s team (which includes eight underclassman). You can’t win basketball games if don’t bring fight and grit. If UK plays the way it did against UCLA, they will no doubt struggle to advance in the NCAA Tournament.

The positive? It’s only December.

And Calipari’s team does not usually play the same in December as they do in March.