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Dante Taylor brought about 10 family and friends from Greenburgh, N.Y.

The Pittsburgh players figured their supporters would come to Madison Square Garden to see a Panthers victory over a struggling Indiana team in the Jimmy V Classic.

Instead, the Hoosiers dominated the Panthers for much of the game before eking out a 74-64 victory before a crowd of 8,975 -- including former Indiana coach Bob Knight.

"It definitely is tough, but at the same time you just play. You're not out there worrying about who's here for you," said Woodall -- the former St. Anthony's (NJ) star who managed just 2 points on 1-for-6 shooting. "You're just trying to come out with the win. Unfortunately tonight we couldn't get it."

The Big East went 1-1 on the evening as No. 15 Georgetown handled No. 22 Butler, 72-65, in the first game.

Sophomore guard Ashton Gibbs, who starred at Seton Hall Prep in New Jersey, led the Panthers (7-2) with 25 points on 8-for-25 shooting. Brad Wanamaker added 16 and Taylor, a McDonald's All-American last year, scored 12.

"It's not like [my family] never saw me lose before," Taylor said. "We just have to learn from this."

"We got really what we deserved," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon added. "We didn't play well and Indiana did."

Verdell Jones led Indiana (4-4) with 20 points and Christian Watford scored 18.

"It feels great," Jones said. "Our hard word is starting to pay off. For our team to get a win against an elite team like this will motivate us to keep working and getting better."

Pitt lost four starters from last year's team that reached the Elite Eight, including two current NBA players in Sam Young and DeJuan Blair.

The Panthers are also without redshirt sophomore forward Gilbert Brown (academic suspension), while senior guard Jermaine Dixon made his season debut after suffering a broken foot. He notched two rebounds, one assist and three turnovers.

"We've lost some guys and we also have some guys out," Jamie Dixon said. "Those aren't excuses. No matter who we have we have to play better than we did tonight."

Woodall is confident that his team will be able to compete with the upper echelon Big East teams -- Syracuse, West Virginia and Villanova -- once Brown and Dixon get back to full speed.

"As soon as we get all our players healthy and then everybody clicking we'll be fine," he said.

Free Throws: Former Fordham point guard Jio Fontan was at the game watching Woodall, his former St. Anthony teammate. Fontan will take an official visit to Indiana this weekend and to USC the following weekend. Indiana hosts No. 4 Kentucky on Saturday in a nationally televised game. Fontan was given a conditional release from Fordham that prevents him from joining another Atlantic 10 school or any program in the tri-state area.