NASHVILLE − In some ways, Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats could see it coming.

Before he and the team walked onto a bus and rode to Nashville to play Vanderbilt, Oats spoke in a way that proved somewhat prophetic about his team. While addressing reporters, Oats talked about a persistent problem as he tried to make sense of the discrepancy between having the nation’s most efficient offense and a team with five losses.

“There’s got to be a competitive edge about you that when you’re up nine against Purdue and they’re starting to make a run, you know you’ve got to get stops and create possessions,” Oats said Friday. “You’ve got to figure out how to win. We can’t just have the best offense and have the most efficient offense. No, you’ve got to figure out how to win.”

The Crimson Tide did on Saturday, defeating the Commodores 78-75. But it didn’t have to be that close. In fact, it probably shouldn’t have been. Yet, it was because Alabama struggled to close the game.

It’s a theme that has emerged throughout the season. Against ranked teams, that inability to close well has led to losses. Against Vanderbilt (5-9, 0-1 SEC), it almost did.

“We had a decent run at the 8-4 (minute mark) in there, but then it started to slip as we went in the last four minutes,” Oats said.

Alabama (9-5, 1-0 SEC) held a 72-61 lead with 3:30 remaining after guard Mark Sears made his fourth-consecutive bucket. Then, the Crimson Tide let up, and the Commodores made a game of it.

By the time 1:18 remained, Vanderbilt had drawn within five. Then with 12 seconds left, within three. With five seconds left, within two.

A game in which Alabama could have walked out comfortably turned into a timeout showdown in the final minute as it remained a one-possession game.

A few culprits caused that near loss. Alabama didn’t hit free throws at the clip Oats wanted down the stretch; it went 4-for-8 over the last four minutes. The Crimson Tide also didn’t rebound as well as Vanderbilt; the Commodores outrebounded the Crimson Tide 10-5 over the final four minutes of the game.

“We’ve got to do a better job of rebounding the ball there late in the game,” Oats said.

The defense must improve as well. That’s been a problem before, and it was a problem again late vs. Vanderbilt.

“The five games that we’ve lost, defense the first 28 minutes was great,” guard Mark Sears said. “But the last 12 was really where we’d lose the game.”

The result wasn’t the same vs. Vanderbilt, but many of the same issues emerged. If Alabama doesn’t correct them soon, it’s going to be adding to the five losses.

“We talk about starts to games, closes to halves, starts to the second half, closes to games,” Oats said. “I didn’t think we did a great job closing either half. We didn’t score in almost the last five minutes of the first half. Then the second half, we’ve got a lead and almost gave it up. We’ve got to do a better job … close the half, close the game."

Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men's basketball. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama basketball beats Vanderbilt, but competitive edge still lacking