Worcester Wolves and Guildford Heat meet for the second time in four days on Saturday as both teams look to wrap up a place in the BBL Cup quarter-final.
While Wednesday night’s BBL Trophy game looks to be low key as both sides are eliminated, it’s win or go home on Saturday evening as the teams battle it out to seal a quarter-final trip to Mersey Tigers.
Sherrad Prezzie-BlueWolves’ coach Paul James is excited about playing in this weekend’s Cup game: “Every competition during the BBL season is important, but yes some more than others. The BBL Cup competition is one anybody can win regardless of form shown going into these games. If your team can string together a few good games you can find yourself in the final! I had a very successful time whilst at the Heat winning all competitions which was a great feeling, now I want to replicate that success here at Worcester.”
James rates the Heat team highly: “Guildford have not got off to the electric start that they had last season, but they will come good of that I’m sure! They are well coached by Creon and have a wealth of experience and talent on their squad and there starting five are as talented as most teams in the BBL. I have a way I like to play Guildford and playing them twice in quick succession won’t alter that.”
Wolves opened their BBL Championship season with a narrow victory at Glasgow Rocks on Sunday, much to James’ delight: We played very well against the Rocks. I think we were tough in some areas of the game and executed well when push came to shove. Prezzie-Blue (pictured) continues to enjoy his new role with us, but I think it was our bench players who made the difference in the end. Callum Jones scored a really good 16 points whilst David Watts and Alex Zimnickas both finished our leading rebounders. Green and Harrison played pretty well for Glasgow.”
England international forward David Watts was also delighted with that win in Glasgow: “It was a really tough win. We’d had a bit of a mixed week in practice but we had some good intensity. The trip up there was a factor and we started a bit flat. We got a lead, but struggled to maintain it when they pressed. Our free-throwing was horrible to watch, so we know we need to practice that.”
Watts expects a tough game on Saturday: “We’re looking forward to it. We’re in a good position at the minute, the guys are understanding their roles, and if we keep doing things well and get Tommy [Freeman] a few more looks, we’ll do well. If we can work on our transition game, that will help us.
“Saturday will be more intense than Wednesday, and I think we’ll probably be sick of seeing each other soon, as we’ll see them four times by early December!”
