WORCESTER Wolves go into the weekend's British Basketball League double-header without a number of key players, including Lithuanian linchpin Valdas Urbanavicius.

The shooting guard could be out for four weeks after damaging knee ligaments in last Saturday's match against Plymouth Raiders.

And Urbanavicius will not be the only absentee. Major summer signing James Noel is still on the road back to fitness and Darren Hume-Francis is attending a funeral in Jamaica.

It means Wolves will go into the two games with a squad of just eight players and will assess whether reinforcements are needed during the Chrsitmas period.

They entertain Scottish Rocks tonight at the Univer-sity of Worcester (7pm) in a BBL Championship game and follow it up with a trip to Chester Jets in a BBL Trophy match tomorrow (5.30pm).

The Rocks have won eight of their 14 games against BBL opponents.

They recently beat Newcastle Eagles in the BBL Cup semi-final and will play Guildford Heat in the final at the National Indoor Arena on January 7.

Wolves go into the game having picked up just one win in the BBL campaign so far.

In the last meeting between the two sides the Rocks managed a 40-point win in Glas-gow.

The Jets have only won three of their 14 games against BBL opponents but they did record a victory over London United last week.

Worcester's director of basketball Mick Donovan remains philisophical about his side's struggles so far this campaign.

"This season was always going to be difficult following our promotion to the top flight," he said.

"Whilst some may say that we are failing at this level I would argue that we are learning at this level.

"We have come a long way in a short time and we were always going to need a year to assess the challenge - not only about the other teams but also about the character and ability of our own squad of players.

"This season still offers a massive challenge for our club and - while we may add some more players to our team - it is vital that we learn about which current players will keep battling week in and week out.

"We are going to find out now who the strong individuals are and they will be the ones that we keep on board," added Donovan.

"Sport and life is about facing challenges and every game in this league offers a massive challenge to the team and the individual players within it."

* Match reports in next week's Worcester News.