diff --git a/libs/neon-shmem/src/hash.rs b/libs/neon-shmem/src/hash.rs
index 364787e2b7..efe7c96cb3 100644
--- a/libs/neon-shmem/src/hash.rs
+++ b/libs/neon-shmem/src/hash.rs
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ where
         inner.buckets = buckets;
 	}
 
-		/// Rehash the map. Intended for benchmarking only.
+	/// Rehash the map. Intended for benchmarking only.
 	pub fn shuffle(&mut self) {
 		let map = unsafe { self.shared_ptr.as_mut() }.unwrap();
         let inner = &mut map.inner;
@@ -352,7 +352,7 @@ where
         Ok(())
     }
 
-	/// Begin a shrink, limiting all new allocations to be in buckets with index less than `num_buckets`. 
+	/// Begin a shrink, limiting all new allocations to be in buckets with index less than `num_buckets`.
 	pub fn begin_shrink(&mut self, num_buckets: u32) {
 		let map = unsafe { self.shared_ptr.as_mut() }.unwrap();
 		if num_buckets > map.inner.get_num_buckets() as u32 {
@@ -377,32 +377,28 @@ where
 
 		if inner.get_num_buckets() == num_buckets as usize {
             return Ok(());
-        }
+        } else if inner.get_num_buckets() > num_buckets as usize {
+			panic!("called finish_shrink before enough entries were removed");
+		}
 		
 		for i in (num_buckets as usize)..inner.buckets.len() {
-			if inner.buckets[i].inner.is_some() {
-				// TODO(quantumish) Do we want to treat this as a violation of an invariant
-				// or a legitimate error the caller can run into? Originally I thought this
-				// could return something like a UnevictedError(index) as soon as it runs
-				// into something (that way a caller could clear their soon-to-be-shrinked 
-				// buckets by repeatedly trying to call `finish_shrink`). 
-				//
-				// Would require making a wider error type enum with this and shmem errors.
-				panic!("unevicted entries in shrinked space")
-			}
-			match inner.buckets[i].prev {
-				PrevPos::First(_) => {
-					let next_pos = inner.buckets[i].next;
-					inner.free_head = next_pos;
-					if next_pos != INVALID_POS {
-						inner.buckets[next_pos as usize].prev = PrevPos::First(INVALID_POS);
-					}
-				},
-				PrevPos::Chained(j) => {
-					let next_pos = inner.buckets[i].next;
-					inner.buckets[j as usize].next = next_pos;
-					if next_pos != INVALID_POS {
-						inner.buckets[next_pos as usize].prev = PrevPos::Chained(j);
+			if let Some((k, v)) = inner.buckets[i].inner.take() {				
+				inner.alloc_bucket(k, v, inner.buckets[i].prev.unwrap_first()).unwrap();
+			} else { 
+				match inner.buckets[i].prev {
+					PrevPos::First(_) => {
+						let next_pos = inner.buckets[i].next;
+						inner.free_head = next_pos;
+						if next_pos != INVALID_POS {
+							inner.buckets[next_pos as usize].prev = PrevPos::First(INVALID_POS);
+						}
+					},
+					PrevPos::Chained(j) => {
+						let next_pos = inner.buckets[i].next;
+						inner.buckets[j as usize].next = next_pos;
+						if next_pos != INVALID_POS {
+							inner.buckets[next_pos as usize].prev = PrevPos::Chained(j);
+						}
 					}
 				}
 			}
@@ -421,6 +417,5 @@ where
 		inner.alloc_limit = INVALID_POS;
 		
 		Ok(())
-	}
-
+	}	
 }
diff --git a/libs/neon-shmem/src/hash/entry.rs b/libs/neon-shmem/src/hash/entry.rs
index 64820b3d7b..7d3091c754 100644
--- a/libs/neon-shmem/src/hash/entry.rs
+++ b/libs/neon-shmem/src/hash/entry.rs
@@ -16,6 +16,15 @@ pub(crate) enum PrevPos {
     Chained(u32),
 }
 
+impl PrevPos {
+	pub fn unwrap_first(&self) -> u32 {
+		match self {
+			Self::First(i) => *i,
+			_ => panic!("not first entry in chain")
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 pub struct OccupiedEntry<'a, 'b, K, V> {
     pub(crate) map: &'b mut CoreHashMap<'a, K, V>,
     pub(crate) _key: K, // The key of the occupied entry