Rick Barnes was frank.

He doesn’t like losing any basketball games, let alone four in a row. That bled into a locker room that understood losing at home worsens the pain.

Had one said Louisville — the nation’s No. 5 scoring team at 94.3 points per game — allowed 83 points, a Cardinal might have assumed a win. But that was far from the showing at Food City Center.

Tennessee basketball prevented a fourth loss in the column, in convincing fashion, rattling the No. 11-ranked Louisville Cardinals in a 21-point beatdown, 83-62.

It started with 10 days off. Barnes consistently said practice intensity was never the issue; it was translating that effort into games. Against Louisville, Tennessee finally did.

“I can tell you we got closer to tonight playing like we practice,” head coach Rick Barnes said.

“I think it says a lot about these guys because the last 10 days have been tough for a reason, because we knew we needed to get to a certain level,” Barnes said. “Playing, again, getting ready. Knowing you’re staring down the barrel at Louisville … They knew what we needed to get done and they didn’t want to lose four in a row and just good win for us.”

What appeared to be off nights from Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament turned into complementary performances. The two combined for 10 points at the break and were non-factors with foul trouble. Then the second half sparked a 6-for-8 shooting effort in the first five minutes.

The two propelled Tennessee out to a 50-38 lead, which compiled to 15 points after Ament threaded a cross-court pass to an open Ethan Burg on the wing.

“I would say just uh just keep playing, just going,” Gillespie said. “My teammates was setting me up well, and the bigs, they were ducking in, allowing me to get easy layups. And then I think Nate found me on a few open threes. So, just my teammates getting me going.”

A lack of contribution in the first 20 minutes, though, forced more contributors to step up.

Jaylen Carey’s 12 points off the bench spearheaded a reserve unit that outscored Louisville’s bench 34-3. Amari Evans added an efficient seven points in seven minutes — though he fouled out in his limited action.

But that defensive tenacity is ultimately what ended the streak.

“I really felt we were locked in maybe as well defensively as we’ve been all year against a team,” Barnes said.

Felix Okpara led the charge. Tennessee’s center posted three blocks and three steals — proving to be a menacing task for a Cardinal squad that could not match up big-to-big.

He helped dictate the shot selection for the opponent. Louisville settled for 34 of its 58 shots from beyond the arc. Starting forward Sanada Fru only took three shot attempts across his 28 minutes of action. Kasean Pryor and Khani Rooths played behind and tallied a combined 0-for-4 effort in 21 minutes between the two.

“We tell him we think he’s the best overall defensive player in the country when he really is locked in like that,” Barnes said.

“When he’s locked in, he gives us something that everybody would like to have,” Barnes said. “And he’s at his best when he’s playing that way. He really impacts the game in so many different ways because I know people have to look for him.”

Tennessee forced 16 turnovers from the Cardinals. It took them deep into shot clocks and forced them to take out-of-flow shots to get a good look. Though Mikel Brown Jr. was not in the picture, a 62-point scoring effort would suggest more issues than one for Louisville. Shooting 38% from the field and 21% from deep is a byproduct of the defense the Vols played.

“We just wanted to play how Tennessee usually plays Tennessee basketball — being dogs on defense,” Gillespie said.