HEAD coach Paul James says Worcester Wolves will be out to “prove a point” when they take on title rivals Leicester Riders tomorrow night (7.30).

Excitement has been building at the University of Worcester Arena ahead of the clash between two sides locked on 18 points in the British Basketball League table.

Leicester currently hold second spot and will be confident of strengthening their grip, having lost just once all season and thrashing Wolves 88-54 in September.

However, James said third-placed Worcester, who narrowly lost to unbeaten leaders Newcastle Eagles last month, are due a victory over one of the “big teams” in the league as they bid to showcase their championship-winning credentials.

“I think we are where we thought we would be (at this stage) but at some point we need to knock off one of these big teams, so a win tonight would prove a point,” he said.

“We almost did it against Newcastle a few weeks back. It was a two-point game with less than two minutes to go, so we had our chance to win it, but we didn’t take that opportunity, which was disappointing.

“Hopefully, we will have an opportunity to do that against Leicester and will take that, which would be massive for us.”

Forward Orlan Jackman is expected to make his debut after signing from Portuguese side CAB Madeira last week, while Pavol Losonsky will replace the injured Ben Eaves.

Fellow forward Perris Blackwell has also been hit by an injury setback after damaging his ankle in training.

James added: “Leicester are a very athletic team who get up and down the floor very quickly.

“They have got the best defensive record in the league and pride themselves on that.

“We have to overcome that battle first and foremost and just stick to our game plan.

“If we get them into a close game, we will have a great chance of winning it, but we cannot allow them to run away with the match in the first half.”

Wolves have not been in competitive action since securing back-to-back wins over Bristol Flyers and Leeds Force two weeks ago and James said the rest helped to “re-energise” his players.

“A few players were a little bit sore and bruised,” James added. “We have to show a lot of toughness, both mentally and physically, and I can see how they can get tired because of that, so the rest came just at the right time.

“We didn’t have a week off from training but it was not as intense as it might have been and we looked forward to getting back into it in preparation for a very tough game against Leicester.”