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Florida Gulf Coast University ran into one of the country’s hottest Division I men’s basketball teams Tuesday night, but the D-II Eagles hardly were scorched by an angry Top-25 team in hostile territory.

After cracking the top 10 for the first time in the program’s history before losing, 77-65, at Wright State on Saturday to sink to No. 13, Butler’s Bulldogs were not exactly wagging their tails in Indianapolis when the Eagles flapped into famed old Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Butler coach Todd Lickliter was so upset with the setback at Horizon-league leader Wright State that he refused all but face-to-face media requests. The weather — a half-foot of snow hit Indianapolis on Monday night and Tuesday morning — also made the surrounding quite cold.

“The loss took us kind of hard, but Coach is good at preparing us to play,” Butler’s Mike Green said, referring to Saturday’s loss at Wright State, a defeat that could end up costing the Bulldogs homecourt advantage in the Horizon League tournament later this month.

Despite the unfamiliar climate and setting, FGCU was not that far from its element. The Eagles hung tough in front of what Butler announcers called “an amazing crowd” of head-scratching fans, but Butler finally broke away for a 79-65 win, leaving FGCU, which dribbles off to Division I’s Atlantic Sun Conference next season, 0-for-3 against its D-I foes (the others were at Drexel, 73-37, and Penn, 93-74).

“They play hard and hit some tough shots. They have a nice team,” said Green, who scored a career-high 24 points. “I expected to be challenged.”

FGCU was within 77-65 after a Rob Quaintance old-fashioned three-point play with 50.1 seconds left before the Eagles began emptying the bench and hugging one another for their efforts.

Back-to-back jumpers by Beau Bauer and Yavney Neptune pulled FGCU within 49-42 but Butler pushed it back to double digits with two free throws by Pete Campbell at 53-42. A Bauer free throw brought FGCU within 56-45 with 7:36 left.

“There’s an expectation for these guys to put them away,” Butler coach Todd Lickliter said of Butler being the favorite.

“This is a difficult thing to ask,” he said. “It was emotional on Saturday, and they’ve been a target of everybody. It can be a bit of a strain.”

FGCU coach Dave Balza was disappointed with the loss, but thrilled with the effort.

“Yeah, I wish it would’ve been a little bit better but ... I thought we did a good job of keep coming back,” Balza said.

FGCU outrebounded Butler 32-23 but shot only 39.7 percent from the field compared to the Bulldogs’ 48.9 percent. FGCU made only 13 of 20 free throws while Butler sank 27 of 31. Both teams are solid at 3-point shooting and FGCU made 6 of 18 while Butler made 6 of 17.

“They did a great job of making free throws,” Balza said of the Bulldogs. “There’s not a lot of defense for that. We controlled the boards. We both made 23 field goals — we both made six 3s — but they’re plus-14 at the free-throw line, which was the difference, I thought.

“I thought it was a major improvement. I thought we showed improvements on the early games at Drexel at Penn, from the standpoint of possession by possession. And I thought end of game execution was much better than at Drexel, where we sort of hung our heads down a little bit and better than at Penn where we let them make the score a little better than it was.”

Bauer led FGCU with 17 points. Casey Wohlleb had 12. Landon Adler, who scored FGCU’s first four points, had nine with five rebounds, and Adam Liddell had eight points and eight rebounds.

“Aw, man, is he tough or what?” Balza said of Bauer.

“They are really a good team,” Lickliter said. “They have six Division I transfers, a couple we recruited, and they’re balanced.”

Butler all-everything guard A.J. Graves had 22 points, almost five above his average.

Sporting blue uniforms and looks of non-intimidation, FGCU (22-6), which came in with a school-record 14-game winning streak, trailed 7-2 but took an 8-7 lead on a putback by Terike Barrowes. Butler (23-3) seemed to be on the verge of an early blowout when Graves scored five points within 30 seconds to give the Bulldogs a 17-9 lead with 12:22 remaining in the first half.

But a Bauer 3 and a Neptune drive sliced it to 17-14.

“That’s a testament to our kids,” Balza said. “There wasn’t any intimidation. I thought for the most part we did a good job of guarding tonight.”

“We were ready to play, but they do a good job taking advantage of what you do wrong,” said Bauer, who was the MVP for Indiana high school Class 2A champion Cass in 2003.

Again Butler rolled, scoring 14 consecutive points for 31-14 before an FGCU rally finalized by a Bauer drive and pair of free throws cut to 37-28 prior to Brandon Crone’s inside score, making it 39-28 at intermission.

“I think the biggest thing we take out of this is to go back and play with this same focus and intensity,” Balza said. “Take something from this — Butler, they have bodies on the floor. They are flying after it. If we will do those same things, and I think our guys learned that, we will have more success down the road.”

FGCU plays at Marygrove (Mich.) on Thursday night. Tipoff is at 7.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.