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Sophomore C.J. Giles played arguably his finest game as a collegian to date, and Kansas played solid team defense in the second half, earning a 69-56 victory over the California Golden Bears at Kansas City’s Kemper Arena Saturday afternoon. Giles scored 17 points, grabbed nine boards and blocked five shots, but the biggest part of his role in the game was his solid defense on Cal’s Leon Powe, who was held to 16 points; 10 under his season average going into the game. The Jayhawks fell behind by eight early, missing their first eight shots inside the three-point arc and turning the ball over several times in the opening minutes. Fortunately, Kansas made three of their first four treys; the last one by Russell Robinson took Cal’s eight point lead to five at the 11:22 mark of the first half. Cal handled the basketball as poorly as Kansas in the first half, as each team turned the ball over three times in the first three minutes, and both teams had more turnovers than field goals in the opening period. Shortly after the second television timeout, senior Christian Moody entered the game and seemed to provide poise and stability to the Jayhawk big men. Moody only scored once for KU, but seemed to settle the younger big men accepting the challenge of defending Powe and Devon Hardin. Micah Downs hit a three to tie the game at 16 and finish the 8-0 run that erased the Bear lead. Cal nudged back into the lead as the first half progressed. Led by former Jayhawk Omar Wilkes’ nine first half points the Golden Bears lead by three at intermission 34-31. Thanks to an increase in defensive pressure and better ball handling decisions, the next ten minutes was all Kansas. Brandon Rush made his first bucket of the game a minute into the second half, and followed it with a nice dish to Julian Wright to give KU their first lead since the opening minute of the game, a lead they would not relinquish. Giles defensive effort led to Powe being held scoreless during the first 10 minutes of the second half, which saw KU expand its lead to 13 at 51-38. The lead would expand to 17 with six minutes left, yet three minutes Cal cut the lead to nine to make the game a little more interesting at the end. In the final two minutes the Jayhawks went 6-6 from the line to put the game away. Offensively, the difference was made in play off the bench. Kansas’ bench outscored California 35-6, led by Wright’s 11 and Downs’ 10 points. KU would up turning the ball over 19 times for the game, but 14 of those came in the first half. The Jayhawks followed their miserable free throw shooting night in New York by hitting 11 of 14 against Cal. KU went 6-12 for the game from TreyLand, mostly in the first half when they needed to stay in the game. On the down side, Sasha Kaun was in foul trouble early and never was a factor in the game, missing his only shot and nabbing two rebounds in nine minutes. Jeff Hawkins played 20 minutes, but was in foul trouble very early with two before the first TV timeout. Point guard seemed to be played somewhat by committee, with Robinson, Mario Chalmers, Hawkins and senior Steven Vinson each handling the job. On the upside, eight Jayhawks played at least 11 minutes each. The Jayhawks showed a solid man-to-man defense in the second half, and kept the Golden Bear heavy scorers in check. Giles was an absolute animal on defense. KU did a god job of protecting the lead without losing aggressiveness. It was good to hear the Rock Chalk chant in the closing minutes of the game played on the ‘neutral’ court. The work in progress continued Saturday. This win was important to KU; it was a good win over a solid Pac-10 team; it was a get-the-monkey-off-your-back before it turns into an 800 pound gorilla win; it could be a turning-the-corner type of win. It’s not a win to rest on, and it’s not a win that legends are made of. Yet. Mark Howe is a freelance writer currently residing in Milford, IN. He is a former ticket taker, usher and security worker at Allen Fieldhouse, and can be reached at mhowe (at) rockchalk (dot) com.