Anthony Tolliver had a breakout performance in the seventh game of his junior season at Creighton.

Tolliver scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a win over Xavier. Tolliver, who up to that point had been inconsistent, went on to average 13.2 points and 6.7 rebounds as a junior while earning second-team All-Missouri Valley honors. The next season, Tolliver was a first-team pick and helped Creighton make the NCAA tournament.

In the seventh game of his junior season, Kenny Lawson scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a win over Nebraska. Lawson, inconsistent to this point in his career, raised his season averages to 13.3 points and 6.7 rebounds with his first career double-double.

Only time will tell if Lawson's performance against the Huskers was indeed a breakout effort or merely a flash of unsustainable performance. Justin Carter points to Lawson's 18-point output the previous game against Iona as evidence the big game was no fluke.

“Kenny's showed his potential the last couple of games,'' Carter said. “He didn't surprise us. He's supposed to do that.''

Lawson aims for an encore of his big game when the Bluejays face George Mason at 12:05 p.m. today. The game, a rematch of last February's BracketBuster meeting, matches teams in need of a victory.

Creighton's win over Nebraska snapped a three-game skid, but the Bluejays are still just 3-4. George Mason is 4-5 after Tuesday's one-point loss to Dayton, a team that defeated Creighton by 10 points on Nov. 14. The Patriots also have lost to No. 3 Villanova by a point and to No. 21 and 24 Georgia Tech by eight.

“When you lose close games to Villanova, Georgia Tech and Dayton, I don't know if you could say they're struggling,'' Creighton coach Dana Altman said. “We've both played solid schedules, and we're both disappointed that we didn't win some of those close games.

“We still know they're a very talented basketball team and they're very good at home. This is going to be a big challenge for us.''

Lawson has started since midway through his freshman season. He averaged 5.9 points and 4.2 rebounds that year, then improved those averages to 8.5 points and 4.8 rebounds last season.

Lawson downplayed the notion that his NU game represented a breakout performance.

“As far as the box score is concerned, you can maybe say that,'' he said. “But I'm just trying to do the things that Coach tells me to do. I'm just trying to develop good habits.

“I think if we all keep practicing hard, a lot of guys are going to see games like that. With the guys we have on this team, anyone could have a game like that.''

Before Lawson's big game, the last Bluejay to score 25 points and grab 10 rebounds against a team from one of the six major BCS football conferences was Mike Amos, who had 28 points and 17 rebounds in 1992 against Nebraska.

On Saturday Lawson will try to become the first Creighton player to record back-to-back 20-10 games since Amos did it in December 1992.

Rest assured Lawson will be a primary focus of George Mason's defensive game plan.

“I'm really impressed with Lawson,'' Patriots coach Jim Larranaga said. “He'll either be the best big man we'll face this year, or he'll be one of the top two or three.''

Lawson became just the fourth Creighton player in Altman's 16 seasons to register a 25-10 game. Tolliver did it against Xavier, Rodney Buford did it twice (1997, 1998) and Randall Crutcher did it in 1997.

Lawson is working on a streak of six straight games with 10 points or more. By becoming a more viable option inside, Lawson appears to be building trust with his perimeter players.

“Big guys depend on others to get them the ball,'' Altman said. “He has to give them the confidence to throw the ball inside. They have to know he's going to go get the ball, and I don't think it's any doubt that the confidence level that guys have in Kenny is increasing.''

Lawson is sensing that, too.

“I've been trying to do a better job of posting up hard in the paint instead of just on the blocks,'' he said. “If I'm out there fumbling the ball in the paint, guys aren't going to want to throw it to me.

“And I have to show that I can kick it out when I'm double-teamed. If we can do that, open shots are going to come.''

• CU Notes: Creighton leads the series 3-0, with all three games having been played since 2005. ... Today's game is Creighton's second in the state of Virginia. The first came in 2005, when the Bluejays scored a 20-point win over a George Mason team that wound up in the Final Four.

Contact the writer:

679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com

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