Ten years ago, Jimmy Collins was an assistant coach at Illinois and a likely successor to long-time coach Lou Henson.

Tomorrow, Collins will attempt to upset the Illini as his UIC team faces Illinois in the annual December to Remember Classic.

Illinois (8-2) and Illinois-Chicago (5-4) meet at 1 p.m. at the United Center on Saturday for an in-state match-up that has become a tradition played out every three years. And while the Illini seem to have an edge going into the game, coach Bruce Weber cautioned that his team cannot take this lightly.

“It’s just like the Bradley game, we have everything to lose,” Weber said Thursday. “It will be good basketball, but if you lose it’s a tough situation. I can’t do anything about it, we just have to win.”

Illinois should be stronger with Jamar Smith back in action and Brian Randle likely to see some minutes Saturday. But the battered Illini still have at least five team members playing below 100 percent of their potential, Weber said, as Shaun Pruitt and Chester Frazier continue to play through injuries. Add in freshman Rich Semrau’s indefinite absence following surgery to remove an internal infection Wednesday, and it looks like things aren’t getting better.

But Weber said that as long as the Illini give one more push before the finals-week break, they will have time to recuperate before heading back into the thick of the schedule. When key games against Missouri, Xavier and Ohio State approach in the next month, the team will have recovered the depth it needs to tackle those tough opponents.

“Once we get them all back and playing well, competition is good to keep you motivated,” Weber said.

UIC is a solid team that has been focusing on improving its defense and developing what Collins calls “intellect in the backcourt.” He said Illinois presents definite match-up problems and has outside shooting that is tough to beat.

“In order for us to beat them we have to have a near-perfect game, we have to shoot well, be solid in terms of defense,” Collins said. “We have to get to their shooters; they have a total package. And we have to be a little lucky.”

The question for now, however, is how motivated Illinois will be against UIC. Weber said that in past seasons Dee Brown and Luther Head made sure the team got excited to play in the “House that Mike Built.” Without those home-grown team leaders, though, he questioned how much of a difference it will make.

“Once they got in that building they just lit up. You could just see the excitement to be part of that,” Weber said. “But Dee was kind of the catalyst. Will this new group feel the same, play with that same energy? We’ll have to see on Saturday.”

Many Illini fans felt a decade ago that Collins should have been named Illinois’ head coach, but that his implications in the Bruce Pearl recruiting scandal cost him the job. Collins said in a teleconference Thursday that while the decade-old decision might spark his team’s performance, he doubts it is going to be enough to overcome Illinois’ pure athletic advantage.

“It’s been 11 years, they’re a little ways removed,” Collins said. “They know that I spent a lot of time down there, they know I’m going to always be tied to the Fighting Illini. But these kids are younger.”