WORCESTER Wolves face a cup double-header this weekend as their season begins to pick up pace.

Wolves travel to Solent Stars in the National Trophy tonight (8pm) and are back in Worcester for tomorrow's National Cup third round encounter with England Basketball League Division Three Tamar Valley Cannons (4pm).

Andrew Harper, who scored 21 points on his debut in last Saturday's Trophy win over Coventry Crusaders, plays at Solent but is rested in favour of Ty Shaw as the only American allowed to play against Tamar.

Wolves' head coach Josh Cooprider believes there is much more to come from the new shooting guard.

"Harper had a very good debut," Cooprider said.

"He had only been here a week at that time and he's still not in shape. He had a year out in the States so he's just going to get better and better. I think it's a pretty good indication of what's to come."

With the exception of Harper's enforced absence, Wolves have a full strength side to choose from for both games.

Victory tonight would leave the club with one foot in the exclusive-to-division one trophy semi-finals with one group game left, while success tomorrow secures a quarter-final cup berth.

However, Cooprider is not thinking beyond tonight at present, not least because the squad is not expected back at their Henwick Road base from Southampton until the small hours.

"We take it one game at a time," he said.

"We prepare ourselves for Saturday's game and treat it like we were playing one game for the weekend. Then we wake up on Sunday morning and think about that one."

But once tomorrow comes, Cooprider will treat Plymouth-based Tamar with respect, particularly given that Wolves were made to work for their 60-48 second round victory against lower ranked Filton Flyers.

Cooprider added: "I am not going to take anything for granted.

"We have got to look at the game against Filton Flyers. On paper you would think we would be able to get through that game pretty easily but they gave us a good game."

There are now just two weeks until Wolves' Division One campaign starts against Nottingham Knights.

Cooprider is happy with how things are going but hopes he will never be content with his side's performances.

He said: "I am pleased but hopefully I will never be satisfied. Our goal is to try and improve each week. We are looking for longer term things rather than a short- term fix.

"If we can go out and do what we have been working on, hopefully the end results will be in our favour."

A week today Wolves travel to Crusaders for another National Trophy encounter before the league season starts seven days later.