There were bound to be bumps in the road, especially for a Michigan team that has a completely new coaching staff and an overhauled roster.

It takes time for players to build chemistry, to adjust to a new system and to learn how to play with new teammates. It takes time for coaches to figure out what lineup combinations work best. It takes time for the entire operation to jell.

“We don’t know our team well enough. Our team doesn’t know us (coaches) well enough,” coach Dusty May said Monday. “When I say well enough, (I mean) to compete at a championship level right now.

“It’s November. Our job as coaches is to figure out solutions for our problems and some things you just don’t know the extent of it. You don’t know how much you could be exposed in certain areas.”

It’s better to have that happen early in the season than in the meat of the Big Ten schedule. In Michigan’s case, that’s exactly what’s happening. Through two games, the Wolverines have struggled in two areas — defensive rebounding and offensive turnovers.

The issues weren’t as problematic in the 48-point win over Cleveland State in the season opener, when Michigan lit up the scoreboard and nearly set a program record for shooting percentage in game. But they were in Sunday’s 72-70 setback against Wake Forest, a game that came down to the final possession.

Given the size Michigan has throughout its lineup — highlighted by a pair of 7-footers in Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin — May didn’t expect defensive rebounding to be a concern. But it has been.

Cleveland State and Wake Forest both had success crashing the offensive glass. The Vikings grabbed 20 offensive boards that led to 25 of their 53 points. The Demon Deacons turned 11 offensive rebounds into eight points, all of which matter in a game decided by two points.

“We didn’t think we’d be a dominant defensive rebounding team, for a number of reasons, early in the year, but we didn’t think that we would be giving up the amount of second shots that we have, especially on the possessions where our defense wasn’t really broken down,” May said. “When you’re broken down and guards are in the paint, it usually puts a big against a guard and a rotational block out. You can expect to give up some of those.

“But the others where we’re on balance, we’re in position, and we just don’t come up with them, those are the ones we have to get. These are one-possession games, and they’re going to be one-possession games a lot this year. You can’t give them three or four opportunities in the last two minutes of a game.”

While some of the second-chance opportunities Michigan has given up have come off long rebounds, others have come from the opponent simply winning the battle and getting a fingertip on the ball.

Against Cleveland State, Wolf did much of the work on the glass, securing nine of the team’s 25 defensive rebounds. But against Wake Forest, Goldin and Wolf combined for just five defensive boards, half the total that guards Tre Donaldson (six) and Roddy Gayle Jr. (four) grabbed.

“We’ve got to fix it,” May said. “If we choose to respond the right way, then it’d be worth it. If we continue down the same path, we’ll learn the hard way.”

When it comes to turnovers, Michigan committed 16 in each game against Cleveland State and Wake Forest, leading to 20 total points and some easy baskets in transition.

But more than that, it results in an empty trip down the floor. For a Michigan team that wants to play fast, more possessions mean more shots, more scoring chances and more points.

More times than not, the team that puts up more shots often has better odds of winning.

Against Wake Forest, in particular, May noted the Wolverines “tried to do a little bit too much individually.”

The turnovers aren’t limited to one or two players. Five Wolverines turned the ball over at least two times against Cleveland State. Three Wolverines committed at least three turnovers against Wake Forest, though May chalked up a couple of those giveaways to “bad fortune” when Gayle and Wolf both slipped on a wet spot on the court.

May credited Wake Forest’s defense for being aggressive in the gaps and playing with an intensity that’s hard to simulate in practice, which led to poor decisions and players “trying to do too much against a set defense.”

Then again, some of it goes back to most of the Wolverines getting used to playing with one another.