No. 15 Vanderbilt looks to extend its three-game winning streak against visiting Oklahoma — losers of nine straight — in Nashville, Tenn. on Saturday afternoon.

The Commodores (19-3, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) had a needed week off after a 71-68 home win over Ole Miss. Tyler Tanner led all scorers with 24 points, AK Okereke tied a season high in scoring (17) and Mike James established season highs with nine points and nine rebounds off the bench.

“I knew we weren’t coming into this game at our best,” coach Mark Byington said afterwards. “Injuries, illnesses, fatigue, just a lot of things going on. Ole Miss fought really hard and we knew they were going to play that way. We just had to figure out somehow, some way, to be able to win that way.”

The Sooners (11-12, 1-9) come off a 94-78 loss at Kentucky on Wednesday. Xzayvier Brown’s 21 points led the Sooners, who allowed 1.44 points per possession (per Ken Pomeroy) while being outrebounded, 41-25.

“It’s … physicality, size,” coach Porter Moser said when asked about the rebounding differential. “We battled back. I think we cut (the lead) to eight at one point and then they got two or three offensive rebounds. When you’re trying to cut (the lead) those are just daggers, when you’re trying to get a stop and can’t finish the play with a rebound.”

Vanderbilt has been burdened by absences to guards Duke Miles (16.6 ppg) and Frankie Collins (7.8); Miles likely won’t play Saturday while Collins’ status is uncertain.

The Commodores have been hampered by illness — Jalen Washington (8.9 ppg) threw up in warm-ups last Saturday and played through it at less than full strength, while leading rebounder Devin McGlockton (6.8) had a season-low two points in 26 minutes.

Vanderbilt ranks 31st nationally in average offensive possession length (15.9 seconds) per Pomeroy, but played its slowest-tempo game of the year (64 possessions) against Ole Miss. The game before, the Commodores slowed the pace to a crawl in the second half of an 80-55 win over Kentucky to rest Tanner, who has played at least 33 minutes in every league game.

The Sooners take care of the ball (10 turnovers per game, ranked 35th in Division I) and have capable scoring threats in Brown (16.4 ppg), Nigel Pack (15.8), Tae Davis (12.7) and Derrion Reed (11.9). But they’ve leaked defensively, allowing 79 points or more in their last eight games.

Pack, a sixth-year player, had scored 22, 23 and 25 in Oklahoma’s previous four games before scoring just six on eight shots in Lexington.

The Commodores would like more from Tyler Nickel (14.5) than the five points (which tied a season low) he had against Ole Miss, which snapped a nine-game double-digit scoring streak. He’s had a pair of games in which he hit eight 3-pointers this season.

Vanderbilt is 14th in the latest NET rankings, and has a 6-3 mark in Quad 1. It drew a four-seed in Joe Lunardi’s projected NCAA tournament field of Feb. 3. Oklahoma (85th) is a Quad 3 opponent.

This is one of just four remaining home games for Vanderbilt. The Commodores are in a fourth-place tie in the SEC’s overall standings behind leaders Florida and Texas A&M (7-2).

–Field Level Media

Top-ranked Arizona will not have played in a week when the Wildcats host Oklahoma State on Saturday at Tucson, Ariz.

It will be the first game since the unbeaten Wildcats (22-0, 9-0 Big 12) achieved the best start in program history with an 87-74 win at Arizona State.

They will attempt to break the school record of 22 straight victories, achieved from 1914 to 1917.

“I’m looking forward to having a little break in our schedule, but I’m also cognizant that we got to keep getting better,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. “We got to make sure we stay sharp and have great rhythm.

“We got a tough couple games coming up. You got Oklahoma State coming, and then turn around and you got to play at Kansas (on Monday). Not easy.”

The Cowboys (16-6, 4-5) are coming off a 99-92 win over No. 16 BYU at Stillwater, Okla., behind a season-high 30 points from Anthony Roy.

The victory was the first of the season against a Quad-1 opponent for Oklahoma State, which some NCAA tournament prognosticators label as a team on the bubble.

Upsetting BYU prompted fans to storm the court.

“It was a heck of a night,” second-year coach Steve Lutz told reporters. “Obviously, we were able to get our first Quad-1 win against a team that I think can play for a national title. I’m proud of the guys. I think they did a fantastic job.

“They’ve done a much better job over the last couple weeks of being a good basketball team rather than a good group of individuals, and that’s paying dividends for us right now.”

After losing four of five games, including two defeats against Iowa State, Oklahoma State has won the last two games at Utah and against BYU.

Roy, a senior guard playing for his fourth program, leads the Cowboys with 18.2 points per game.

Formerly of San Francisco, New Mexico State and Green Bay, Roy is shooting 46.5% from the field and 44.8% from 3-point range.

Rebounding will be a concern for Oklahoma State, which has only one player averaging more than five per game — 6-foot-10 center Parsa Fallah (6.3).

Arizona deploys 6-8 power forward Tobe Awaka (9.8 rebounds a game), 7-2 post player Motiejus Krivas (8.3) and 6-8 forward Koa Peat (5.6).

The Wildcats are third nationally in rebounding margin at plus-13.1. Oklahoma State is No. 141 at plus-2.5.

Arizona counters Oklahoma State’s productive perimeter game that includes Roy and point guard Kanye Clary (5.0 assists and 2.1 turnovers a game) with Brayden Burries and Jaden Bradley.

Burries leads Arizona with 15.3 points per game. Bradley averages 4.5 assists to go with only 1.7 turnovers.

The Wildcats’ steady backcourt play is a significant reason Arizona has yet to lose.

“We value steadiness,” Lloyd said. “A lot of people talk about momentum, momentum, momentum. I understand what momentum is, but I think there’s way more value in being steady and consistent.

“From there, you’re going to get opportunities to create momentum. If you’re just worried about panic and having momentum, you really don’t have any substance to what you’re doing. We talk about just staying steady, steady, steady.”

–Field Level Media

No. 19 Saint Louis will be in search of a bit more edge as it tries to continue its Atlantic 10 Conference dominance at home against La Salle on Saturday.

Saint Louis (22-1, 10-0 Atlantic 10) will face struggling La Salle (7-16, 3-7) after it dodged defeat at Davidson on Tuesday night. The Billikens rallied from 13 points down in the first half to earn a 91-82 victory.

“We’ve certainly taken punches, and we know we’re going to take more,” Billikens head coach Josh Schertz said. “You can’t have a glass jaw and be a championship team. You know you’re going to get stood up, you’re going to get knocked down, but you build the muscle of getting back up. We’re building a muscle of resilience.”

The Billikens enjoyed a NET ranking of 15 this week. While any regular-season loss may diminish that ranking and cost them a place in the Associated Press Top 25, their real chance at making the NCAA Tournament will likely come in the conference tournament.

The Atlantic 10 sent just one team to the NCAA Tournament in each of the past two seasons, although that doesn’t lessen the importance of the regular season.

Schertz runs a nine-player rotation with six averaging double-figure points. The Billikens have multiple long-range shooters, giving the team plenty of scoring threats while creating a defensive nightmare.

Ishan Sharma poured in 29 points in a 35-point victory at St. Bonaventure two weeks ago. Trey Green scored 23 in victories over George Washington and Dayton at home last week. It was Brady Dunlap’s turn at Davidson, where he scored 22.

“It’s incredible,” Schertz said. “They really pull for each other. They want to be great themselves, but they’re not so small that their success would take the shine away from the other one. That doesn’t threaten them.

“When Ish did what he did against Dayton (18 points) and Brady wasn’t great (no shot attempts), Brady was incredibly happy. He was frustrated in his own situation, but he was incredibly happy for Ish.”

La Salle has struggled with injuries this season as 11 players have combined to miss 98 games. Forwards Jerome Brewer Jr. and Josiah Harris did not play at Loyola on Tuesday during a 71-61 loss.

Stepping up in their absence, Explorers guard Jaden Johnson played 37 minutes against the Ramblers and produced season highs with 16 points and eight assists.

Brewer and Harris combined for 34 points when La Salle lost to Saint Louis 84-72 at home on Jan. 10. The Billikens shot 10-of-23 (43%) from 3-point range.

La Salle coach Darris Nichols was frustrated with his team’s 3-point defense during the Explorers’ subsequent 67-58 loss to Saint Joseph’s at home on Jan. 31.

“The whole game plan was not to let them get 3s off,” Norris said. “They got 32 off. They made 10-for-20 at halftime. We didn’t execute the game plan.”

The Explorers allowed Loyola to launch 30 shots from 3-point range Tuesday and 10 were successful.

Defending the perimeter will be vital against the Billikens, who are shooting 40.7% from beyond the arc. That ranked fourth in Division I through Thursday’s games.

–Field Level Media