D1 Men Preview

As Wolves' men prepare for the first half of a double header against Loughborough Riders, coach Thomas Baker is looking for full 40-minute performance from his side:

"After a strong start to the game last week and also our best start to a third quarter, we are will be looking to finish games better" he said.

With Baker's team due to host the Riders on Wednesday evening, Baker has a good idea what to expect from the midlands team: "playing Loughborough is always a great test and we know they will be well drilled and disciplined. We have taken a positive step forward over the last couple of weeks but we still have some way to go to achieve our quest of playing our way for a full 40 minutes." After three straight losses Wolves are joint 12th the table with a 2-8 record while Riders' up-and-down season sees them tenth in the table with three wins from 12 games and an L Lynch Trophy semi-final against Thames Valley Cavaliers to look forward to.

Jordan Santiago returned after injury for Wolves last week, and despite a difficult shooting night he is still third in the scoring charts, averaging 22.8 points per game, and Oaklands now have two of the top seven rebounders in the Division One charts with AJ Roberts fourth with 10.2rpg and Santiago in seventh with 9.2rpg.

Jonas Dieterich leads Riders with 20.6ppg, putting him tenth in the D1 scoring charts, while Kyle Jimenez leads the league with an impressive 10.4 assists per game.

Last season's meetings between Wolves' predecessors Leopards and the Riders both went the way of the Loughborough University side, with a 94-66 victory in the midlands and a 79-53 in January's return at Oaklands.