DURHAM WILDCATS face their first double header of the BBL season and rookie centre Mike Allison is confident his side can pick up full points.

There are miles to be covered, however, with a visit to Sheffield Sharks tonight, and Plymouth on Sunday. A long road trip aside, Allison is looking forward to the challenges those teams will bring.

"The travel's going to be a big factor but I think as long as we play the way I know we can play, I think we have a good chance of taking anyone in the league," said Allison, after his side beat Cheshire Phoenix 78-75 in the BBL Cup on Saturday.

"I'm not terrified of the competition, I'm just confident our team can do well."

The Northern Echo: Durham Wildcats

Averaging around ten rebounds and two blocked shots a game for Durham, Allison has added scoring to his repertoire this season.

His standout game to date was a double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds in a win over the previously-unbeaten London Lions.

"That was a really good one, I just got off to a really good start," he recalled.

"The first few possessions I got the ball and scored, and my confidence just started going up and I started playing really well.

"As a team, I felt we executed well. We still need to work on certain things but as a whole I think we didn't let up and did what we were supposed to do."

"Every game we've got a little bit better," he added.

"We've been cutting down on the amount of times we mess up and as the season goes on I think we're going to be more efficient.

"Our goal is to be a contender in the play-offs; not just get in the play-offs, but to go far and do well."

Durham coach Lee Davie is expecting a close battle in South Yorkshire tonight after facing them in pre-season.

"We played Sheffield really close in pre-season, they were missing some guys and so were we,” explained Davie. "We're looking forward to picking back up where we left off with them. They have a good, established core group and are the reigning BBL Trophy winners.

“We need to make sure we're focused for 40 minutes and keeping trying to do the right thing on each possession.”