VIENNA, AUSTRIA — Tennessee couldn’t catch a break in its 103-98 loss to Pezinok in Slovakia Wednesday night.

That made the break the Vols got Thursday afternoon after arriving in Vienna that much more important.

Five of the 10 UT players on the European trip, along with coach Bruce Pearl, visited the Prater Amusement Park for two hours Thursday night.

“This visit here was perfect timing,’’ sophomore Duke Crews said. “This is giving us some new life toward the end of the trip and really rejuvenates us.’’

Senior Chris Lofton was among the five players who took advantage of the free time to catch up on sleep back at the hotel.

“I wanted to go to the park, but I fell asleep,’’ Lofton said. “I’m back to feeling energized and I want to go to the park Saturday. But first, we need that win Friday (tonight). It’s gonna be a tough team.’’

The Vols are scheduled to play Klosterneuburg, the Austrian Pro League’s defending champions, at 7 o’clock local time tonight.

The team made a two-hour visit to the Schonbrunn Palace on the morning drive to Vienna, going through more than 40 rooms of the impressive property.

Pearl called a team meeting when the team arrived at the team hotel to discuss the defeat.

“We talked about how we want to handle adversity in the future,’’ said Pearl, who was whistled for a technical foul and had two players called for intentional fouls. “When we step on the floor, there’s a way we need to go about playing.

“Yeah there was some stuff with the officials, but some of our trouble was of our own doing.’’

Senior JaJuan Smith said he’s disappointed with the loss, but he’s trying not to overreact.

“That put a nasty taste in our mouths and showed we could get beat,’’ said Smith, who had 18 points on 8 of 18 shooting. “We’re still undefeated as far as I’m concerned, but that was a learning experience.’’

Lofton, who hit four 3-pointers in the final five minutes, said the result was no less painful for him.

“Every time I lose, it hurts,’’ Lofton said. “So what if I hit four 3-pointers? We lost. Maybe I should have hit six or seven.

“You can’t say I stepped up, because we didn’t win. ’’

Lofton, like his teammates, didn’t have prior knowledge of former Russian national player and Euro League All-Star Andre Lukjanec, who scored 38 points on the Vols for Pezinok.

“Andre is the legend here since moving from Ukraine,’’ said Pezinok fan Matthew Pavlovic. “He whipped your best; he could have scored 50.’’

Lukjanec was just one of many reasons UT was upset.

The most obvious factor was favorable officiating for the home team. Pezinok hit 14 of 15 free throws in the final five minutes.

The Vols, meanwhile, hurt themselves at the free-throw line (16 of 27) and got into such foul trouble that 6-foot-4 wing Josh Tabb wound up playing the post and Steven Pearl (6-5) saw more than 20 minutes at power forward.

“I know I didn’t contribute like I could,’’ said UT sophomore point guard Ramar Smith, who had seven points on 2-of-7 shooting from the floor and 3-of-7 from the line. “I got frustrated by certain calls against me, and I know better than that.’’

Crews said the Vols need to push themselves.

“You can blame the loss on all our travel, or the officiating, but we didn’t execute,’’ Crews said. “I think we’ve improved, it’s not where coach wants it, but we’re making strides.

Chism Injury: Sophomore center Wayne Chism said the injury that limited him to eight minutes and kept him out in the loss to Pezinok is not serious.

“My knee had just gotten stiff on me,’’ said Chism, who underwent electronic stimulus therapy Thursday. “I wanted to go back in the game, but coach wasn’t having that.’’

Chism is expected to play tonight.

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.