HEAD coach Paul James is confident Worcester Wolves will measure up against leaders Leicester Riders in a mouth-watering clash at Leicester Arena tomorrow night (7.30pm).

Riders are flying high at the top of the British Basketball League and ran out emphatic 94-71 winners in their last meeting with James’ side in mid-November.

But Wolves have come on in leaps and bounds since that defeat at the University of Worcester Arena as they have racked up nine straight victories in all competitions.

James said he now wanted to use the Leicester game as a “yardstick” to see how far his team have come in the past six weeks.

But he was also optimistic over his side’s chances of giving Riders a run for their money.

“We are looking forward to playing against Leicester,” James said.

“They are setting the benchmark for everyone in this league but we have won our last nine games.

“We feel that the last time we played Leicester we didn’t play particularly well and they probably played their best game of the season.

“We will use this as a yardstick to see how far we have come but I am excited by the way we are playing at the moment.

“We are confident going into it as we have won in many different ways and have got to find a way to try to challenge Leicester and be there at the end of the game to give ourselves a chance of winning.

“I think everyone wants to see this match-up and it should be a really cracking game.”

Wolves have also been boosted by the arrival of Michael Ojo who looks set to make his debut for the club.

The ex-Plymouth Raiders guard joined Worcester this week and will hope to get his new club off to a winning start in 2018.

James added: “I am really delighted with the way we performed in December.

“It was a month we targeted and thought if we could get five or six wins we would have done really well.

“So to have gone unbeaten throughout that month and reached the BBL Cup final I could not be more delighted.

“The second leg of the cup semi-final against Sheffield was a really professional performance from us.

“We controlled the game and never felt like we were going to lose but we have also won a couple of ugly matches too.

“The guys have got this never-give-up attitude and they really trust in each other.

“We are a confident group right now and everybody has got each other’s back.

“Training has also been very intense and competitive and that’s what we need going into these games coming up.”