Perth Wildcats big man Matt Knight has been ruled out of Friday night's game at Challenge Stadium against the Gold Coast Blaze due to a small right calf strain.

Knight strained the calf in the dying stages of Thursday's final practice session before Friday's game with the Blaze.

While it will keep him out of the clash with Gold Coast, the strain is small and is also on the opposite calf that he tore last season and that saw him miss nine games.

The Wildcats' medical staff will closely monitor Knight's calf now in the coming days and see how he pulls up. It will be reassessed every couple of days with the view to him testing it out at some stage next week to see whether or not he makes the trip to play the Sydney Kings next Friday.

Knight remains a chance to play next week, but if he isn’t able to get up for that game he is a certain starter to take on Townsville at Challenge Stadium the following Saturday January 28.

The injury will mean that Jeremiah Trueman comes into the Wildcats squad to face the Gold Coast Blaze as the Wildcats look to retain top spot on the NBL ladder, win a fourth straight game and also knock off the Blaze for the first time in the 2011/12 campaign.

The game will be broadcast live on 91.3 SportFM (www.sportfm.com.au) and 720 ABC Perth (www.abc.net.au/perth) with tip-off just after 7pm from Challenge Stadium.