When the Illinois basketball team defeated Georgia 76-42 a season ago, the two teams were headed in different directions.

In the season following the commanding Illini victory, Illinois earned a No. 5 seed in the 2009 NCAA Tournament and finished tied for second in the Big Ten. Georgia went on to go through three head coaches after Dennis Felton, who began the season at the helm, got the Bulldogs off to a 9-10 start.

Illinois holds a 5-0 all-time record against Georgia, but Illini head coach Bruce Weber doesn’t want his team counting on an easy victory when it faces the Bulldogs on Saturday evening in Duluth, Ga.

“You’ve got to be careful to look at that last year’s score,” Weber said.

“The score obviously ended up pretty lopsided. They were struggling a little bit at that point and then (head) coach (Dennis) Felton lost his job.”

But this year’s Georgia squad has an improved look according to Weber.

The new head coach, Mark Fox, is in his first full year at Georgia and has gotten the Bulldogs off to a 4-4 record to start the season.

Sophomore forward Trey Thompkins leads the way for the Bulldogs, averaging 14.3 points and 7.3 rebounds.

“They have some pretty good athletes, they have some good size,” Weber said.

“They’re going to make you play,” Weber added. “They’re definitely competitive, you know, I guess a little bit different than last year where they kind of just gave in to us down the stretch.”

Illinois (8-2) is lead by junior Demetri McCamey, who averages 13.5 points. The guard leads a balanced Orange and Blue offense, which includes all five starters averaging double figures in scoring. Junior forward Mike Davis adds an average of 9.9 rebounds for the Illini.