Meeks leads the Southeastern Conference in scoring and Patterson is tied for third.
However, what they have not had is a dependable third scorer. At times, Perry Stevenson has been able to score. So has Josh Harrellson. Freshman point guard DeAndre Liggins has had his offensive outbursts, but has lacked consistency.
"I just think it is any given guy on any given day that will be that third scorer," said Stevenson, who followed a scoreless first half Saturday against Florida Atlantic with a 10-point second half. "You are going to get what you get out of Pat and Jodie almost every game. They are tremendous players. But there is room for another person to score, and I hope it is me."
Patterson insists there's no pressure on him and Meeks to keep up their torrid scoring pace.
"We all know Jodie can knock down shots, and he's not going to stop shooting," Patterson said. "But he also knows how to look for teammates. He's very capable of passing more without looking to shoot if that's how teams defend us.
"At times, there will be games where teams make it hard for me to get the ball in the post. When that happens, we have to get some guys who can make shots. Darius (Miller) can do it. DeAndre can. Mike (Porter) can. I tell them all if they are open to shoot because we need their scoring."
'I know they can do it'
Patterson thinks Kentucky (10-3) could see some trick defenses soon. Maybe not tonight against Central Michigan, but certainly when Southeastern Conference play starts next week.
"There might be a box-and-one with a guy on Jodie and teams surrounding me or a triangle-and-two (a zone with man-to-man coverage on Meeks and Patterson). Someone has to step up and score for us when that happens," Patterson said. "We have guys that can do it. I know they can do it. We actually have a bunch of guys, including Perry, that can do. But they have to believe they can do it."
Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie was disappointed Saturday that the Wildcats went 2-for-18 from 3-point range against Florida Atlantic. While Meeks was 2-for-6, six other players were a combined 0-for-12.
"We just didn't make shots," Gillispie said even though his team shot 54.4 percent overall from the field. "We shot about as poorly as we could have. They really didn't even have to guard us on the perimeter because we shot so poorly."
Gillispie did keep his sense of humor when he admitted that he was surprised walk-on Landon Slone, who played 25 minutes, went 0-for-4 from 3-point range against Florida Atlantic.
"I was surprised he went 0-for-4, and he must have been to because he kept throwing them up there," Gillispie said.
Even though Kentucky did help offset its poor 3-point shooting by committing a season-low seven turnovers, Gillispie was not overly impressed by that number, either.
"They didn't pressure us that much. Sometimes you just can't go by numbers. We should not have had many turnovers against this team," the Kentucky coach said.
