CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Tyler Kolek showed off the nasty bruise on his left ankle outside the Marquette men's basketball locker room on Tuesday at the State Farm Center.

The All-American point guard got that battle souvenir just a few days earlier in the Golden Eagles' victory over Rider on Friday.

But there was no chance that he was going to sit out MU's first real test and initial road game this season. Kolek came through with 24 points, six rebounds and four assists to lead the fourth-ranked Golden Eagles to a gritty 71-64 victory over No. 23 Illinois.

BOX SCORE: Marquette 71, Illinois 64

"Maybe a doubt in other peoples' minds, but not my mind," Kolek said. "I always knew I'd be ready to go."

MU head coach Shaka Smart got that sense earlier in the day.

"It's about as high-profile of an ankle that I've seen," Smart said. "Ever since Friday when he turned it, just me, not to mention him and the trainer, I probably got like 50 texts. 'Is Tyler playing? How's his ankle?'

"And I just kept writing back 'I don't know.' Because as of yesterday, he was probably not going to play at least not according to the trainer and the doctor. Although Tyler never said that.

"We went into shootaround this morning. He started moving around and he was pretty ginger on it. But he kept inserting himself in there with the starting group. So that told me that he was going to want to go. And obviously glad he did."

Tyler Kolek and Kam Jones help lead Marquette paint attack

Kolek was indeed in the starting group against the Fighting Illini (2-1). He looked like he was moving well and scored three straight baskets to give the Golden Eagles (3-0) a 13-7 lead.

Kolek had 14 points on 7-for-11 shooting in the first half, getting to the basket at will against Illinois' pick-and-roll coverages. MU had 26 points in the paint in the first 20 minutes.

"They were just in drop coverage," Kolek said. "Every team that plays that, they're going to drop back and expect me to pass. It's easy pickings once you get in the paint."

Illinois fought back early in the second half, but Kolek's layup with 9:41 remaining gave MU the lead for good at 54-52.

Kolek's backcourt mate Kam Jones, who finished with 15 points, provided the daggers down the stretch with a couple spinning layups of the glass.

"I just give the ball and get out of the way," Kolek said. "He's one of the best scorers I've ever seen. I love it."

Marquette's defense locks up down the stretch

MU has been known the past two seasons for its efficient offense, but it wasn't the prettiest night on that end. MU shot just 5 for 17 (29.4%) on three-pointers and also missed several good looks at the rim.

But the Golden Eagles dug in on defense down the stretch, holding the Illini without a field goal for the last 3 minutes and 12 seconds in front of 15,544 fans.

"That shows how bad we want to win," Jones said. "It's not easy to come in and do that against a top 25 team with a good crowd behind them. They want to win, too.

"So I think that showed our experience with each other and our will to win."

Illinois forward Terrence Shannon Jr., listed at 6-foot-6 and 225 pounds, provided a formidable challenge, and the fifth-year player scored 21 points.

"Shannon is hard to deal with," Smart said. "He's a freight train going down hill. So our guys did the best they could.

"But I think we played through really good multiple efforts. And they were moving the ball around and making threes earlier in the game. I thought we did a good job continuing to rotate down the stretch. I think we got 10 out of 11 stops if I'm not mistaken at some point in the half and that was kind of the difference that allowed us to take the lead."

Marquette heads to loaded Maui Invitational next

It was the kind of game that MU had trouble closing out early last season, including the Gavitt Games matchup at Purdue.

"Last year early on we lost some close ones," Kolek said. "We didn't know how to win yet.

"At the end of the game, we didn't know how to play defense. We didn't know what sets we wanted to run, what we wanted to get into. Just the experience last year that we gained is going to help us this whole year."

Smart played 10 players in the first halves of the Golden Eagles' first two victories, but shortened his rotation in this one. He leaned on his eight returning players, with freshman Tre Norman getting just four minutes.

That continuity can help MU, especially early in the season. The challenges keep coming for the Golden Eagles, with the loaded Maui Invitational that has been relocated to Honolulu. MU will face UCLA in the first round on Monday, with a chance to likely play No. 1 Kansas after that.

"It helps a lot," Jones said. "Because when you're in the moment, you don't really bat an eye or think really about the situation.

"You just think about doing what you need to do the next play to help your team win. You're not really thinking about some would say like the pressure of a situation or whatever. You think about doing what you're supposed to do."

Required reading: Marquette's Oso Ighodaro developed into one of the country's best big men. Can he show freshman Al Amadou the way?

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Tyler Kolek scores 24 points to lead Marquette over Illinois.