Saturday 22 February 2014 – Birmingham Knights vs Worcester Wolves

The day after meeting high-flying Esh Group Eagles Newcastle, Worcester Wolves will face a stark contrast in opponents when they travel to North Solihull Sports Centre, the home of bottom-of-the-table Birmingham Knights, (tip off 7.30pm).

You could be forgiven for thinking that Paul James and his team might be in danger of overlooking the British Basketball League cellar-dwellers.

However, the Wolves are the title leaders for good reason according to head coach Paul James, who feels they are doing their utmost to slam the door shut on any potential slip-ups.

He said, “The game against Birmingham is back in the BBL Championship, so we will be totally focused for this game.

“One of the particularly good things during this campaign has been that we have treated all of our opponents with the utmost respect and have not taken anything for granted.”

Knights would no doubt love nothing better than to mastermind what would arguably be the biggest story and upset of the BBL season to date by winning this derby encounter.

However, James has clarified the respect his team must show to the Knights by underlining the danger signal that their opponents are gradually improving.

“Coach Dougie has got the team playing hard and they have become more competitive as the season has gone on,” he insisted.

“I’m sure lessons have been learned and they will continue to improve this season and next.”

Knights’ star player, Brent Benson spoke on whether his personal success is fulfilling: “No, because at the end of the day, you play to win and compete. I think we are doing a good job at competing, but we have to be more conscientious as a unit. But we have improved since the first game of the season, so that can be a positive in the future. Hopefully we will have a good crowd at home and be ready to compete with one of the top teams in the league.”