Victory against OU: Big day for Giles

By By Daniel Berk (Contact)

Monday, February 6, 2006

Two points and five rebounds in only 12 minutes of action does not look like an impressive game on paper.

However, CJ Giles’ effect on Kansas’ 59-58 victory over Oklahoma Sunday afternoon goes beyond the box score.

Giles logged only three minutes in the first half, but was on the floor for the last nine minutes of the game, when Kansas made its run from 15 points down to eventually win the game.

“He was great today,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “Maybe this is what he needed to get his confidence back up. This game should do wonders for CJ.”

Giles blocked three shots in the last six minutes of the game, and Self said that he had probably altered about five more shots. He forced Oklahoma to settle for bad shots, instead of driving to the basket for easy lay-ups.

Giles’ first block came with 6:04 to play. Oklahoma guard David Godbold went up for a shot and Giles rejected it and collected the rebound. Godbold then fouled Giles. Giles then went to the free-throw line for two shots.

When he stepped to the line, Kansas trailed by 10. Coming into the game, Giles was only 13-of-30 from the free-throw line. He calmly hit both shots and cut the lead to eight.

Before Sunday’s game, Giles had been struggling playing limited minutes. He collected only three blocks in seven games. However, Giles said that the first block he had made had gave him confidence for the rest of the game and then for the rest of the season.

“I feel like Coach has a lot more confidence in my ability to play defense than offense,” Giles said. “I’m going to focus more on defense and I know the offense will come around.”

Giles’ second block came, with Kansas chipping away at Oklahoma’s lead. Giles blocked Oklahoma forward Taj Gray’s shot and it was deflected to freshman guard Mario Chalmers. Kansas would eventually score on the later possession to cut the lead to two.

Giles would get his final block during the last 29 seconds of the game on another Gray shot attempt.

Although he didn’t hit any field goals, Giles said it had been his most memorable performance in a Kansas uniform. His younger brother Malcolm was at the game, which made the game even more special for Giles. It was the first time he had been to Kansas and seen a game at Allen Fieldhouse.

“Coach rates everything by your performance in practice,” Giles said. “If you are dominating practice you are going to get some minutes. I wasn’t playing as well in practice as I should have been. I thought I played real well this week in practice, though.”

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