LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The University of Louisville went into Saturday's game with Notre Dame at the KFC Yum! Center knowing it couldn't earn the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Big East tournament because Georgetown had already won.

But the Cardinals had a lot to play for.

A victory would leave them tied with Georgetown for the Big East regular-season crown and give them the No. 2 seed, and it would fulfill coach Rick Pitino's challenge of winning their final seven regular-season games. And they owed Notre Dame, which handed them their last loss, 104-101 in five overtimes on Feb. 9, and prompted Pitino to issue his challenge.

Mission accomplished. In spades.

Leading from start to finish and closing the game with a 28-13 run, Louisville triumphed 73-57.

The Cards scored the first four points and never looked back. They shot 66.7 percent in the first half (16 of 24) and led 37-27 at the break, saw the Irish close within 45-40 early in the second half, then went on a 12-3 run to create some breathing room. From there it was just a matter of the final margin.

"It was an exciting victory," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. "It was great to earn a share of the Big East title, and now we need to go into New York and see if we can win that (Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden) as well. We're going in on a high. We're healthy, and everybody is playing well.

"We did a good job of attacking their defense, and we played very good defense, especially in the first half."

Gorgui Dieng paced the winners with 20 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks and three steals. Peyton Siva had 13 points and five assists, and Luke Hancock had 10 points and five rebounds.

Notre Dame made just 11 turnovers, but eight of them were steals, resulting in a 17-7 Louisville advantage in points off turnovers. The Cards ended up shooting 51 percent (26 of 51).