Alabama basketball’s defense is too inconsistent. This far into the season, it’s officially a problem for the Crimson Tide.

At Auburn Wednesday, Nate Oats’ team showed off all of its flaws in a 99-81 loss. UA is still tied for first place in the SEC, but the road to a regular season championship is going to require improvement.

“You either want to win or you don’t,” Oats said Friday. “You want to win, you play hard and you give max effort on D. If other stuff motivates you, you’re not gonna play hard. We’ve seen it.”

Oats had noted after the Auburn loss that some of the defensive lapses were effort related. He reiterated Friday that the team has to do better in that area.

But it’s not the only thing holding the unit back.

“Part of it’s attention to detail,” Oats said. “Like following the scouting report. I think we looked at all 248 of Johni Broome’s field goals, I think 5 of them were scored with his right hand. Need to learn how to take away guys’ tendencies.”

Broome represented 24 of Auburn’s points on Wednesday. The dominant big man gave Alabama trouble throughout the game, just as large frontcourt presences have all season.

The Crimson Tide wasn’t playing its best offensive game Friday either, but the total inability to get stops is what did it in.

“You just have to learn how to, in the moment, figure out how to get a stop,” Oats said. “Some stuff breaks down, there’s gotta be a sense of urgency, like ‘We have to get a stop here, no matter what.’”

Now the margins are non-existent for Alabama to pull off a regular-season title. It starts Saturday, when the Tide travels to LSU, a team it beat earlier in the season at Coleman Coliseum.

UA doesn’t usually go full speed at practice the day after a game. But Thursday night, the Crimson Tide made an exception, looking to find its edge before traveling to Baton Rouge.

According to Oats, Alabama’s seniors have been more vocal after the Auburn loss. He hoped that the renewed fired would help the team find the consistency it was missing.

“There’s not a whole lot of motivating as a coach you can do,” Oats said. “There’s a whole lot of self-reflection I think, as a player. Like ‘How bad do I want to win? What do I want to be known for? Am a competitor? Am I a winner? Or just a really talented basketball player?’ So we’ll see for the last month, where our guys are at.”

Alabama and LSU are scheduled to tip off at 11 a.m. Saturday. The game will be aired on ESPN.