Pitt led all NCAA Division I teams in rebounding margin last season. Over the past five seasons the Panthers have been first or second in the Big East Conference in that category three times.

By now, it goes without saying that Pitt teams are built around rebounding and defense. And that is why a less-than-stellar effort on the boards in the first two games has left coach Jamie Dixon displeased.

"We're concerned for obvious reasons," he said.

Pitt has outrebounded its first two opponents by only six. Wofford played Pitt to a stalemate on the boards in the opener, 30-30, and the Panthers barely outrebounded undermanned Binghamton by a 32-26 margin Tuesday night.

Pitt outrebounded its opponents by 9.3 per game last season, by seven or more in three of the past five seasons and by at least four every season in the past five. The early returns this season suggest the Panthers will have a hard time registering those types of numbers.

For one, this is the smallest team Dixon has coached. After 6-foot-10 center Gary McGhee, Dixon is starting 6-5 power forward Nasir Robinson, 6-4 small forward Brad Wanamaker, 6-2 shooting guard Ashton Gibbs and 5-11 point guard Travon Woodall.

The main reserves are 5-10 guard Chase Adams and 6-9 center Dante Taylor.

Robinson, who notched a career-high 10 rebounds against Binghamton, said the Panthers cannot let their lack of size be an excuse.

"We're not worried about our height or size or anything," Robinson said. "We just have to put a body on somebody and go rebound. Coach preaches about it every day in practice about how we have to outrebound our opponent. So I just try to focus on that, box out and beat my guy to the basket and grab the rebound."

Some of the other issues have been inexperience and personnel changes. Wanamaker played mostly shooting guard his first two seasons, but he is playing small forward because of Gilbert Brown's academic suspension. In Pitt's offense, the small forwards crash the boards when the shot goes up and the shooting guard retreats to play defense in the event of a miss.

Wanamaker has admittedly had a tough time remembering to crash the boards. Getting the small forwards and guards to contribute more in the rebounding department is the main focus as the Panthers get ready to play Eastern Kentucky tonight in another non-conference game at the Petersen Events Center.

"We've played teams that have shot a lot of 3s, so there are a lot of long rebounds, and I don't feel like we're getting enough of those," Dixon said. "But I'm always concerned about our rebounding. We've been the best rebounding team in the country in certain years and I've still been concerned about it. You're never satisfied with rebounding or defense. We have to get our guards to rebound more, especially on the long 3s. [Binghamton] was taking deep 3s, and the guards have to get those."

The guards should get more practice against Eastern Kentucky, which attempted 26 3-pointers in its opening victory against West Virginia Wesleyan.

Above and beyond issues with size and effort, Dixon said Pitt's biggest problem has been playing efficiently on offense and fundamentally sound on defense. He said good offense leads to good offensive rebounding opportunities, and the Panthers are still learning how to play together. By the same token, good defense leads to every player being in good rebounding position.

"Bottom line is we have to rebound better as a team," Dixon said.

NOTE -- The NCAA early signing period ended yesterday and Pitt received signed letters of intent from its three recruits -- point guard Isiah Epps, shooting guard Cameron Wright and small forward J.J. Moore. Recruiting rankings are ever-changing, but here is a sampling of where the three are ranked currently: Epps is rated as the nation's No. 40 recruit by rivals.com, No. 50 by ESPN-U and No. 92 by scout.com. Moore is rated No. 107 by rivals, No. 76 by scout and No. 52 by hoopscooponline. Wright is ranked No. 74 by scout. "We are extremely excited about Isaiah, J.J. and Cameron," Dixon said. "All three are good players from winning programs and all three have outstanding work ethic."

Check out Ray Fittipaldo's Pitt B-Ball blog and Paul Zeise's Pitt Stop videos about football exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.