The Volunteers, who were outrebounded 43-28, dropped to 0-5 in regional semifinals and finished with a school record for victories in a season.

“This doesn’t take much away from the finest season in the history of Tennessee basketball,” Pearl said. “No team has accomplished the things these guys accomplished this year, and I’m awfully proud of them.”

Things couldn’t have started much worse for the Volunteers. Chism picked up two fouls in the first 2 minutes and Louisville’s extended 2-3 zone bottled up Lofton, their leading scorer.

When the Cardinals weren’t turning it over, they were scoring off easy baskets in transition. Pearl had called two timeouts by the time Louisville took a 24-8 with 8:58 left.

Tennessee got within seven at halftime, then cut the deficit to one early in the second half, despite getting little from Lofton.

Lofton, who came in third in NCAA history with 429 3-pointers, saw a defender in his face every time he got the ball. He missed his first seven 3-point attempts.

Lofton was 2-for-11 from 3-point range, and could only watch Louisville celebrate in the final minute from the bench.

“They wouldn’t leave me,” Lofton said. “It was tough to get my shot off. They’re a great defensive team.”

It left the Cardinals looking ahead to Saturday’s game against North Carolina, the toughest test yet for their vaunted defense. The Tar Heels will also be playing a virtual home game just over two hours from its Chapel Hill campus.

The teams were set to meet in an early season tournament in Las Vegas, but the Cardinals were upset by Brigham Young.

This time Pitino and the Cardinals, who have won 12 of 14, are a confident bunch thanks to their defense.

“It’s improved a lot over the course of the season,” McGee said. “Coach has talked deny pressure, and trying to force steals and turnovers. Today, as far as offense, we did a terrible job in the first half — we had a lot of turnovers — but we handled their pressure pretty good. We stepped it up in the second half.”

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