WORCESTER Wolves head coach Paul James has described tomorrow’s home clash against Glasgow Rocks as “a massive game at this stage of the season”.

Wolves host Rocks at the University of Worcester Arena and will be aiming for a second straight win against their Scottish rivals in the British Basketball League (7.30pm).

Worcester opened the campaign with a hard-fought 80-69 home success against Rocks and have climbed to second spot after a battling to an 87-72 win at Manchester Giants last Sunday.

Rocks have just bounced back from a narrow loss at Leicester Riders to edge past Cheshire Phoenix 78-76.

James is expecting a stern test against the Scottish club.

James said: “We have a chance to win the head to head contest against Rocks very early on in the season.

“Getting the head to head verdict is very important for us.

“We want to go out and win as many head to heads as we can.”

He added: “It’s a massive game in the season for both teams.

“If we win it, we win the head to head. Should there be a tie between us at the end of the season, we go above them."

Javier Mugica missed Wolves’ match at Manchester due to a hip injury picked up in training but James is confident the forward will be back for Rocks.

“Javier wanted to play at Manchester but I had to take the advice of our medical team who said he would benefit for a few days’ rest,” explained James.

“He warmed up before the game but he could have taken another bump to the hip and that would have put him out of the Glasgow game.”

He added “We were a bit short-handed at Manchester because we only had a six-man rotation so the guys were a bit fatigued and I forgave them a little bit for having a few lapses.

“We got seven consecutive stops – and that’s something we had been talking about so I was delighted.”

James is hoping Wolves' fans will turn out in force for tomorrow's match.

“It’s always nice to have home advantage because we went up to Glasgow twice last season and lost both matches,” recalled James.

“Glasgow are not the greatest travelling team and I think we have improved since we last played them.

“We want to have 4-1 win record in the league on Friday night and, hopefully, we will have a big crowd to push the boys on.

"We’re second in the league and, although it’s still early days, that’s where we want to be.

“We are not playing anywhere close to our best basketball but we are going to get better as the season goes on.”