Before Avery Johnson was set to deliver an opening statement at his news conference Tuesday, a reporter began lobbing questions at him.

The Alabama coach then reminded him of the usual protocol before relenting.

“Go ahead,” he said. “That’s the least of my problems.”

As his team gets set to play Ole Miss in the second round of the SEC tournament Thursday at 6 p.m. in Nashville, Johnson has been subjected to unrelenting criticism. The Crimson Tide, at 17-14, is the No. 10 seed and in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament for the third time in his four-year run in Tuscaloosa. In the comments sections of online articles and over the airwaves of local radio stations, fans have voiced their displeasure with the state of the basketball program Johnson commands.

“We’ve had great opportunities to seal our fate,” Johnson said. “And it didn’t work out.”

For the second straight season, Alabama collapsed down the stretch during the regular season, losing six of its final eight games in the last month. Problems that surfaced in November have continued to torment the Tide in March. Alabama still struggles with free-throw shooting and ball-handling — shooting 67 percent from the line and turning the ball over 51 more times than its opponents. More vexing is the unresolved question of which player could be counted on to deliver points in crunch time. Last year at this time, Collin Sexton ran the length of the floor and made a game-winning shot as time expired to defeat Texas A&M and preserve a berth in the NCAA tournament.

But, if needed, who could pull off a similar high-wire act for Alabama this week?

Senior forward Donta Hall couldn’t offer a concrete answer.

“Look, we hoop as one,” he said. “We don’t look at that type of stuff. We just hoop as a family.”

Some would argue the Alabama basketball collective is a dysfunctional one. Even on Tuesday, Johnson bemoaned the team’s inconsistency.

“We’ve been making the same mistakes all year,” Johnson said.

Johnson has often given the players slack, allowing them to work out their issues on the floor. But he says in this eleventh hour of the season he is no longer willing to be that lenient.

“Sometimes we allow kids to play through their mistakes,” he said. “That hasn’t really worked that well. Part of it is let’s let the bench do some talking to you. We’ll coach you up and get you back in the game. But we can’t have multiple mistakes on the court and reward one of our players with still being on the court. We’ve got to make a move and some adjustments and hopefully send the right message that what we value is very important.”

Johnson tried to do that earlier this week during a meeting with his team. He called it a conversation but then noted he took up most of the oxygen.

Whether his talking points resonated remains unclear. Even Johnson acknowledged he had some doubts.

“It’s more about our mindset, our energy level,” he said. “Are these guys going to be highly motivated to play in the game? Are they going to believe deep down in their hearts and have the type of faith to know they can be successful if we play the right way?”

Just like that a news conference that began with another person’s questions ended with some of Johnson’s own, leaving a bit of disquiet in the air as the players began to board a bus headed to Nashville, and in the existential sense, a destination far more uncertain.

BRIEFLY…Junior forward Daniel Giddens (right hand) has been ruled out Thursday. Guard Dazon Ingram, who did not play last Saturday because of a deep thigh bruise he suffered in a victory over South Carolina last month, is day-to-day, according to Johnson. “Dazon was able to go through some parts of practice,” Johnson said. “He was moving pretty good.”

Rainer Sabin is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @RainerSabin