Michigan fifth-year senior center Austin Davis is out indefinitely with a foot injury suffered Wednesday against Toledo. U-M reports it's a plantar fascia injury in his right foot, one suffered during a non-contact movement.

Davis limped from the floor and couldn't put pressure on his leg while trying to make his way off the court. Adding insult to injury, he was called for a foul in the process despite not making contact with anyone.

"When he first started limping, my reaction was, 'what's wrong?'" Howard said. "I'm not a doctor or trainer, so I didn't know if it was his knee, foot, ankle. I didn't know. There was a primary ball handler near me and I was trying to get our guys to run a play ...

" ... I was confused when they called a foul ... a lot going on in that one, two-second span."

Davis, a captain with senior Isaiah Livers, is scheduled to begin rehabilitation immediately.He had started all five games this season, averaging 6.0 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.

"While we are sad to have Austin suffer an injury right now, we were glad to hear that there is a possibility of his return at the appropriate time," Howard said. "We know Alex (Wong) and all the members of the U-M medical staff will take good care of 'Big Country.

"They don't have leadership in a box score. That's first. Secondly, they don't have 'all in' in the box score. Austin is a coach on the floor ... such a smart player, a giver ... he's not about the cameras. He feeds positive energy to the team. Now that we don't have him on the floor, we'll miss him a lot."

Howard said he'd go with his "all hands on deck" approach in replacing him. Junior Brandon Johns is likely to see more action at center, while freshman Hunter Dickinson will likely move into the starting lineup.

"Hunter can handle anything that's thrown at him. He's proven that," Howard said. "He welcomes any challenge because he's a very competitive guy. He prepared all summer like all his teammates have when it comes to conditioning.

"He understands he'll be playing more minutes, and I'm sure he's excited about it, as well. He's also very down that Austin is not going to be out there and is injured. None of the players on this team want to see their brothers go down with injury."

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