INDIANAPOLIS – The fourth-ranked Marquette men’s basketball team survived its first road test of the week.

Up next comes No. 1.

Tyler Kolek delivered another All-American-level performance with 27 points and seven assists, and the Golden Eagles scrapped for a 78-72 victory over Butler on Tuesday at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

BOX SCORE: Marquette 78, Butler 72

MU (19-5, 10-3 Big East) has won eight straight games. The Golden Eagles also avenged a loss on Jan. 10 to the Bulldogs (16-9. 7-7).

"We knew that this place was going to be a hard place to come in and win," Golden Eagles head coach Shaka Smart said. "Butler just out-toughed us at our place and came and took the game.

"Our guys have done a really good job of being motivated and connected around wanting to come back here and get one."

Now the Golden Eagles turn their attention to No. 1 Connecticut in what will be a heavyweight battle on Saturday in Hartford, Connecticut. The Huskies take a 12-game winning streak into their game with DePaul on Wednesday.

Tyler Kolek takes advice from Jae Crowder to heart

Kolek was coming off a 27-point, 12-assist, seven-rebound masterpiece against St. John's on Saturday that his head coach called one of his best games at MU.

His performance at Butler was also pretty darn good. The Bulldogs kept hanging around, and Kolek had the dagger three-pointer with 1:32 remaining to give MU a 72-66 lead.

Over the last 4 games, the senior is averaging 25.8 points, 8.8 assists and 5.5 rebounds. Kolek also handed out five assists against Butler to give him 635 in his three seasons at MU, putting him in second in school history behind Tony Miller's 956.

Last season's Big East player of year internalized a recent message from 2011-12 Big East player of the year Jae Crowder, the former MU star now with the Milwaukee Bucks.

"He's always motivated," Smart said. "But even more to be his best. Because when you get to this time of year, it's your senior year, you know that it is go time.

"Jae Crowder spoke to our team before our last game, when we played St. John's, and I think his message really resonated with Tyler. He said 'Hey, this is the time to be moving towards being your absolute best, but at the same time be present right now.'

"He did a great job leading our team despite the fact that there were some frustrating plays for him. We missed a lot of layups around the basket. Butler did a good job with their physicality. But he stuck with it."

Oso Ighodaro and Ben Gold deliver in physical game

The game had the feel of an old-school Big East game, with a lot of contact being allowed by the officiating crew.

MU big man Oso Ighodaro had his fourth double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

"I think we did a lot better job compared to last game of not letting the officiating or how the game was going affect us," Ighodaro said. "We just played through contact and I thought we did a really good job with that."

The Golden Eagles scored 46 points in the paint, thanks to heavy doses of the Kolek-Ighodaro pick-and-roll.

"Tyler's a really good player," Ighodaro said. "I trust him. He trusts me. We've done it so many times, I think that's why it works. We just keep going back to it."

Ben Gold scored seven of his nine points in the second half as MU grabbed control in front of the 8,344 rabid fans. He had four boards, including two putback buckets on the offensive end.

"Ben was huge," Ighodaro said. "He came in, made a bunch of winning plays. He had a bunch of big rebounds. He was huge tonight. He's going to be so good."

Kam Jones hits big three-pointer after battling foul trouble

MU starting guard Kam Jones was whistled for two fouls in the first six minutes. He picked up his third personal early in the second, and his fourth with 7:54 to play. That made for a choppy performance, with Smart substituting Jones in and out of the game while trying to keep the guard mostly on the offensive end.

Jones delivered a big shot after Butler cut MU's lead to 66-64 with just under three minutes remaining. Kolek tried to answer with a short jumper but it missed. He pulled down an offensive rebound, however, and kicked the ball out to Jones at the top of the key. Jones' three-pointer banked in off the glass to the collective groan of the home fans.

"I thought that Kam Jones had really, really good energy," Smart said. "I thought that was huge for us. He had foul trouble the whole game. He didn't let it affect him.

"His spirit and his energy were terrific. I told him after, I said 'The basketball gods let you make that three. Your energy was in the right place.' "

MU only attempted 12 three-pointers in the game. The Golden Eagles shot 32 in the win over St. John's on Saturday.

"(Butler) didn't help as much," Smart said. "Most of our three-point shots are created off of help.

"They had a good plan from a standpoint of 'We're going to make them finish around the basket. We're going to make you play one-on-one or two-on-two.' It did allow us to get in the paint a lot and, when we were able to finish, it was great for us. So we score 46 points in the paint, that's a recipe for winning."

No. 1 vs. No. 4 coming on Saturday

MU likes to say it wants to grow more than any team in the country as the season progresses.

Well, after starting Big East play 2-3 with some shaky performances and injuries, the Golden Eagles are one of the hottest teams in the country.

"I think we've done a really good job of just keeping our composure," Ighodaro said. "We're being us.

"I think early on in the season, we got away from who we are a little bit at times. I think we're doing a great job with that. And we're going to try to keep being consistent with that."

Now they get to face one of the few teams that can claim to be playing better than MU.

Connecticut, the defending national champions, ascended to No. 1 in the Associated Press poll on Jan. 22.

"Just going out and competing," Ighodaro said. "It's going to be a great matchup and we're ready for it."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro help Marquette beat Butler 78-72 at Hinkle Fieldhouse