By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – In its two losses this season, the Iowa women’s basketball team has combined to commit 53 turnovers.

Iowa had 30 turnovers in a 78-68 loss to Tennessee on Dec. 7 in New York City, and then had similar struggles in Sunday’s Big Ten opener at Michigan State, committing 23 turnovers in a 68-66 loss.

Two games in which turnovers ultimately led to Iowa’s doom hardly is a trend, or even a pattern at this stage.

But it is something that will have to be addressed moving forward, and it will be addressed by first-year head coach Jan Jensen.

It would have been foolish to think there wouldn’t be some growing pains as Iowa moves on without the greatest offensive player in the history of women’s college basketball.

Caitlin Clark was a generational talent as a point guard, and she made things so much easier for everyone around her on the court.

She had the ball in her hands far more than anyone else, and she often absorbed turnovers for the team.

Clark almost always brought the ball up the court, and the few times when she didn’t, the ball would usually find its way into her hands.

But without Clark, Iowa has become more of a point guard by committee.

Villanova transfer Lucy Olsen handles much of the point guard responsibilities, but her game seems better suited for playing off the ball as a shooting guard.

Not that she can’t play point guard, but Olsen is at her best when she uses her mid-range game to score.

Freshmen Aaliyah Guyton and Taylor Stremlow also have seen action at point guard this season, and there have been times when seniors Kylie Feuerbach and Syd Affolter and junior Taylor McCabe have brought the ball up the court.

That’s six different players that have had sort of point guard role at times this season, and with that comes turnovers.

Guyton is probably the closest among all of them to being a true point guard, though Stremlow also has point guard skills.

So much is expected from Olsen as a scorer that it would certainly help if someone else were to develop into a reliable point guard.

This kind of thing takes time, though.

Guyton and Stremlow were both in high school at this time last year, and Guyton is also coming off a serious knee injury.

Tennessee showed the blueprint for how to rattle Iowa by running a suffocating full-court press from start to finish.

Michigan State also applied full-court pressure for parts of Sunday’s game, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if Northern Iowa were to do the same thing in Friday’s game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

However, Iowa’s problem with turnovers goes beyond just struggling against defensive pressure.

Feeding the post has also been a problem, sometimes due to a poor entry pass, while other times due to the post player not being in the right position to catch the pass.

This is hardly the time to panic with Iowa 9-2 overall.

The good has far outweighed the bad so far this season under Jan Jensen, but turnovers are a growing concern that can’t be fixed overnight.

To address this issue will take time, practice, repetition and focus.

The problem is there isn’t much time with the season in full swing.