HEAD coach Paul James insists Worcester Wolves cannot afford to take their eye off the ball and allow lowly hosts Leeds Force to score at will tomorrow (4pm).

Leeds languish at the foot of the British Basketball League having lost 17 of their 18 games this season.

But they have scored 80 points or more in eight league fixtures and James admitted he was wary of Force’s attacking threats.

“We cannot overlook anybody,” said James whose side face Sheffield Sharks in the first leg of their BBL Trophy semi-final on Wednesday (7.30pm).

“Leeds have struggled and their results will tell you that.

“But they have been in some of those games where they have scored a lot of points.

“Yes, they have still lost them but any team that can score big will still give themselves a chance of winning.

“If we don’t go in there and play the defence like we should do and allow them to score at will it will be a very long day.

“We don’t want that to happen.”

Wolves have been in fine form in recent months and thrashed Leeds 122-66 in their previous meeting at the University of Worcester Arena in December with George Beamon scoring 25 points.

But Worcester made hard of their 109-75 triumph over second-from-bottom Manchester Giants a week prior to last Sunday’s BBL Cup final defeat.

And James said he did not want to see a repeat of that showing ahead of their showdown with Sheffield in midweek.

“It is about performing to the standards we set ourselves and not to the level the team are playing at,” James said.

“If we can do that I am sure we will be fine.

“We can’t have a repeat of that performance against Manchester so it’s about respecting the team that are in front of you and playing to the best of your ability.”

Having played Leicester Riders last night, Wolves have had less than 48 hours to gear up to facing Leeds.

And with a clash at London Lions sandwiched between two games against Sheffield in the space of five days James said they had looked at adjusting their training schedule to make sure his players were in prime condition to play.

“There are no easy games so we need to make sure the energy levels are up,” James added.

“We are going to have very limited time to train because the guys have got to rest and recover well before playing in a match.

“It is going to be a bit of a balancing act but players would rather be playing games than training, that’s for sure.

“It (the busy fixture list) is a sign we have been doing fairly well in all competitions.

“The longer you go in a competition the more games are going to get backed up so it is a good position for us to be in.”