Michigan head coach Juwan Howard is one bit concerned about the rebounding numbers over the Wolverines' last two games. Outrebounded on the offensive glass by both Ferris State in an exhibition and Purdue Fort Wayne in the season-opener, Howard isn't ready to hit the panic button just yet.

He did, however, make sure it was addressed during halftime.

"I emphasized that during halftime," Howard said. "At halftime, we gave up six offensive rebounds in the first half. Looking at the sheet here, the total, 15. We will get better in that area. Over the years we've been a good rebounding team.

"It's more of effort and also putting a body on someone. It's the first game, we'll get better with it. I'm not panicking."

While there isn't a panic, the numbers certainly don't look great. The Wolverines secured only two offensive rebounds all night, both of them came in the first half. As Howard mentioned, PFW had 15 total.

Overall, the Mastodons won the rebounding battle as the significantly smaller team. While the second half was a much-improved rebounding effort for the Wolverines, outrebounding PFW 22-21 in the half, it still ended up losing that battle with the Mastodons outrebounding U-M 44-38.

As for the players, Hunter Dickinson attributes the early-season numbers to the team still trying to get used to one another.

While the program won't lean on that line of reasoning as a crutch, Dickinson noted that things will continue to be addressed in practice leading up to Friday's game against Eastern Michigan.

"We're probably a little bit more undersized from last year," Dickinson said. "I would say we had Moussa last year who was 6'10 in there with me, that made it easier on the defensive boards. I think that's just us still being new to each other. We just have to keep focusing on boxing out. That's something that we'll address in the coming days coming up on Friday. Boxing out, making sure teams don't get as many second chances as they have. That's an emphasis we made at halftime."