PHOENIX - Louisville, which lost in the first round of the N.C.A.A. tournament the last two seasons, which dropped consecutive games less than a month ago, which supposedly lacked the toughness or inside presence of Michigan State, won another game Thursday. It beat the Spartans the way the Spartans beat other teams for years. It bullied the perennial March bully, staggered the usual tournament tough guy, won a gritty, ugly, low-scoring affair, 57-44, in a game that resembled football as much as basketball and included 69 combined missed shots. Louisville's latest victory, its seventh straight, resulted less from the savvy point guard Peyton Siva, or the wise coach Rick Pitino, who remained undefeated in regional semifinals. It resulted more from a center from Senegal who weighed 187 pounds upon arrival in America, spoke no English and landed in Louisville only when Pitino spied him while recruiting someone else. His name is Gorgui Dieng, and he did not just block seven shots for Louisville (29-9). He made the rim off limits for the Spartans (29-8) who shot as if they had forgotten how. Thus, Michigan State became the first No. 1 seed to fall and marked the first time the Spartans obtained a top seed and did not reach the Final Four. Louisville watched tape Wednesday of a game between Michigan State and Ohio State earlier this season. Pitino called it the most physical game he ever witnessed as a coach. It seemed like he immediately regretted showing it. To which Dieng said Thursday: "We knew we needed to be tougher to win this game." They were. The Cardinals, seeded fourth, grabbed more rebounds (39-36) than the Spartans, forced 15 turnovers, played with more urgency, more want-to, than Michigan State could muster. The physicality started with Dieng, extended down the bench and onto the court, where Louisville stunned the Spartans by providing their best imitation of them. This continued a trend Pitino would note afterward. When the Cardinals failed this season, he said, "it's when Gorgui has gone to the bench." For the record, he played 40 minutes Saturday. In two games, the West boasted three of the country's most successful coaches, with Izzo and Pitino and Billy Donovan (Florida), who had combined for four national championships and 104 victories in the tournament before Thursday. Pitino held a 9-0 record in Round of 16 games entering his latest, including a 3-0 mark at Louisville. Izzo, meanwhile, had lost twice previously in this round - compared to seven wins. The crowd contained more than the usual celebrities, from Michigan State's Magic Johnson to the Louisville native Muhammad Ali. As the pageantry reached its peak, with Louisville in uniforms so orange they might have burned several nearby corneas, the game itself fell flat, in sharp contrast to the setting. The teams traded missed shots, traded missed layups and jumpers, missed leaners and floaters, turning the first half into something that hardly resembled basketball, or perhaps resembled the basketball played in local recreation leagues. The go-ahead basket came from behind the 3-point line, from Dieng, a 6-foot-11 center who shoots outside about as often as it snows here. The Cardinals broke open this game in the second half, behind a dunk from guard Siva, a steal and two free throws from guard Russ Smith that ballooned the lead to 35-25, which for this game seemed, if not an insurmountable cushion, then something close. For a school that advanced to the national semifinals each of the previous three times it received a No. The Louisville defense, guard Austin Thornton said, was more formidable, longer and more athletic, than what the Spartans could replicate in practice. Midway through the second half, Draymond Green, a senior among the best players in the Big 10 conference, dunked twice, snipping the Cardinals" lead to 35-31. Faster than Pitino could say "another regional final," forward Kyle Kuric scored and the Cardinals led, 42-31, again, for good. As the clock ticked toward zero, the lead still in double digits, the Louisville contingent, which was opposite the team bench, stood and roared.