NEW YORK -- Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl harped to his team that they would be exposed without better execution.

Pearl's words will resonate a bit more now. The Vols couldn't have been more exposed Wednesday night if they had ran naked through Times Square.

Butler scored a 56-44 knockout over No. 22 Tennessee (4-1) in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off at Madison Square Garden.

The Vols play No. 2 North Carolina (3-1), a 80-73 loser to unranked Gonzaga (5-0) in the other semifinal, at 4:30 p.m. Friday (TV: ESPN2) in the consolation game. Butler (5-0) plays Gonzaga at 7.

"We're a young basketball team and we played like it tonight,'' Pearl said. "We have a room full of guys, and other than Chris Lofton, all of them are playing a different role than they did last year.''

With the Vols making just 3-of-29 shots from the floor in the second half, it appeared at times some of them might want to take up a different sport. Tennessee shot just 25 percent (13 of 52) from the field.

It was Butler's kind of game from the start. The Bulldogs stuffed their physical, disciplined style of play down Tennessee's throat like the Vols' were Thanksgiving Day turkeys on basketball's biggest stage, the self-purported "World's Most Famous Arena.''

Dane Bradshaw was beat up, Lofton was in foul trouble and struggled to get a shot off when he was in the game, JaJuan Smith countered every great play he made with a turnover and the Vols' vaunted freshmen played like they had stage fright.

"With such a young team, we knew there would be some ups and downs,'' said Bradshaw, who fell hard on his wrist and cramped up in the second half. "But the veterans have equal blame, because we have to step up.

"Coach preached for us to keep the faith in our system and our abilities.''

JaJuan Smith led the Vols with 16 points on 3-of-10 shooting, but along with Lofton and Ramar Smith, he had five turnovers.

"Most of us haven't played in this type of environment before,'' JaJuan Smith said. "We'll get a lot out of this.''

Tennessee led by as many as 13 points before escaping the first half with a 25-22 lead. But Butler's comeback was already underway when the horn sounded for intermission.

When Lofton scored two of his eight points on a reverse lay up to put the Vols up 25-15 at the 4:11 mark of the first half, few would have imagined it would be another seven minutes, 49 seconds of play before UT would get another field goal.

When Josh Tabb scored the Vols' first field goal of the second half at the 16:22 mark, it ended a 14-0 Butler run and pulled UT to 29-27.

By then, however, the continuity the Vols had flashed during a 16-2 first-half run was long gone. UT had nine turnovers during its 7:44 scoreless string and had three shots blocked.

"That was it, right there,'' Pearl said. "We had a lot of close looks we didn't finish. We were swimming uphill offensively. We lost confidence in our continuity and we didn't go to our counters.''

Pearl was blunt in summing up the loss.

"I'm not embarrassed; we got beat by a good basketball team,'' Pearl said. "We didn't play well, and when we don't play well we won't win.

"We'll be playing a Final Four caliber team Friday We've got a monumental task.''

Julian Betko and A.J. Graves shared scoring honors for the Bulldogs with 15 points and Brandon Crone scored 10. Butler has defeated a Big Ten team (Indiana), a Big East team (Notre Dame) and in UT, an SEC opponent.

Orange Slices: UT athletic director Mike Hamilton said the school elected not to bring the pep band, cheerleaders or mascot because of the football game Saturday and the mode of necessitated transportation, bussing. ... Bradshaw said his wrist is not injured and he'll be fine. ... UT's returning players hit 10-of-12 free throws, but the freshman made 2 of 10. ... UT's reserves were 4-of-19 from the floor and scored 12 points.