Louisville shuts down Tennessee; UNC up next

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Louisville coach Rick Pitino benched Earl Clark in the first half and told the sophomore he was in danger of setting a turnover record in Bobcats Arena.

The little talk had the desired effect.

Clark scored 11 of his game-high 17 points in the second half, helping the Cardinals withstand an early run by Tennessee after halftime and pull away for a 79-60 victory on Thursday.

“I was upset with myself,” Clark said of when he was sat down. “I turned the ball over a lot. I was just frustrated. I wasn’t really mad at coach -- just a little bit.”

With the victory, third-seeded Louisville advanced to the East regional final, where they will face top-seeded North Carolina on Saturday at Bobcats Arena.

Tennessee trailed 37-30 at halftime, but opened the second half with an 11-6 run to pull within 43-41.

“I kept telling them that this team will not go away,” Pitino said. “They’ve been down before. They’re not going to give up. Our guys knew that.”

Louisville made their next four shots, part of an 8-0 run to build the lead up to 10 points and never led by less than seven points the rest of the way.

“I just kept telling the guys, that every time we needed a bucket, they needed to make the back screens,” Pitino said. “They did a tremendous job of that.”

Clark scored four points during the decisive run and was one of five players to score in double figures for Louisville. Clark also led the team with 12 rebounds.

Senior Chris Lofton led the Volunteers with 15 points, but it was far from a memorable game for him.

He struggled to get open looks the whole game, and only took two shots in the first half, both 3-pointers, and missed them both. He had just two points at halftime.

Lofton entered the game needing seven 3-pointers to move into second place all-time in the NCAA, but missed his first five tries. It wasn’t until there was 8:21 left in the game that he made his first one, pulling the Volunteers to within 54-47. He finished the game making 2-of-11 3-pointers.

“We extend our zone so it’s almost like a halfcourt trap,” Pitino said. “We don’t give the wings many good looks.”