It’s not Patrick Patterson’s fault.

It may be hard to believe, considering freshman forward DeMarcus Cousins is playing well and John Wall will never catch blame for anything. But for those of you looking at UK’s elder statesman and pointing your finger, take a step back.

When a team loses, there are plenty of reasons for it — lack of heart, sloppy turnovers, an overall lapse in solid play and bad rebounding. Those are the main reasons why UK is 19-1 and not 20-0. Maybe you can attribute the rebounding to Patterson, since he shares the post at the power forward position.

But Patterson didn’t miss a dunk that should have been a lay-up. He didn’t drive the lane with no one to pass to except the other team. And even then, it’s not like Patterson kept the Cats from winning.

“We had our chances to win the game, even with him playing that way,” UK head coach John Calipari said after the loss to South Carolina. “And so there are games he’s going to do that and we’re not going to be good enough to win.”

Every analyst, reasonable fan and drunk in a bar knew a loss would come eventually. The Cats are young and fairly inexperienced. Most of them don’t know what it is like to step in an opponent’s jam-packed arena and get punched in the mouth. On Tuesday, they found out. And on Saturday, we’ll see how they respond.

But when Darius Miller, Ramon Harris and DeAndre Liggins — one starter and two top rotation guys — go scoreless, a loss can’t be pinned on one player.

And if Patterson doesn’t come out against Vanderbilt on Saturday and lead the Cats in scoring, rebounds and inspiring performances, it’s not the end of the world either.

It became evident early in this season that Wall and Cousins were running the show on the court. Patterson’s role is simple — shoot for a double-double, defer to the kids when needed and ride the wave as the third scoring option to a possible championship. What more should anyone want?

Seriously, the junior carried two years of Billy Gillispie on his back. Maybe a year in which he doesn’t need to hit the game-winning bucket or go for 20 points and 12 rebounds every game is good for Patterson. As long as he doesn’t injure himself or completely flop the rest of the season, he’ll still be a lottery pick in the next NBA draft.

But the moral of the story is this: blaming the first loss of an overall great season on one person is beyond fanatical. It’s silly, to be kind. Maybe Patterson is in a slump, but the season isn’t over. And a string of solid performances from Patterson is likely somewhere down the line.

Maybe I should phrase it like this: what would you rather have, Patterson slumping now or no-showing in the NCAA tournament?

If the goal is to make the Final Four and put up the eighth championship banner in Rupp Arena, it really shouldn’t be that hard of an answer.