By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Erik Daniels' growth spurt, 10 inches in five years, is just about over. But his play might make you think otherwise.

"He's growing as he plays," Kentucky men's basketball coach Tubby Smith said. "Every day, it looks like he's getting taller."

Pride might improve posture, for the Princeton High graduate is walking tall after his finest stretch of college games. He returns home today a starter and arguably the hottest player on the nation's 20th-ranked team, as the Wildcats (8-3) face Ohio (3-5) at U.S. Bank Arena.

"I'm very confident right now, and my teammates have confidence in me," Daniels said. "I'm playing more minutes and feeling more comfortable out there. I'm able to get more loose and do more things."

The 6-foot-8, 214-pound junior forward averages 22.3 minutes a game and is expected to start his fifth consecutive game today. He leads UK with a 6.1 rebounding average and has averaged 9.3 points and three assists.

The past three games, Daniels has averages of 11.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and two steals.

"He's getting more mature, getting stronger," Smith said during his postgame radio show Thursday. "He has really committed himself to being a better player and doing the things we asked him to do."

Daniels had been a jack-of-all-trades his first two seasons, but he played limited minutes because of limited scoring. He averaged fewer than two baskets a game each of those seasons.

Daniels never met a shot he couldn't pass up, the curse of his pass-first mentality forged in his formative years as a point guard.

"He wasn't even trying to score (the past two seasons)," said Paul Andrews, Daniels' coach at Princeton. "That was a little frustrating to me watching him play."

Daniels ranked fourth in the Southeastern Conference in assist-to-turnover ratio last season at 2-to-1. But his scoring average dipped from 5.2 points as a freshman to 3.7 last season, when he shot 46 percent.

He landed in the doghouse in February after being cited for trying to use a fake ID to enter a Lexington bar.

"That kind of opened my eyes and told me to grow up a little bit," Daniels said.

With the graduation of All-American forward Tayshaun Prince, this became a critical offseason for Daniels. He had been unable to prove himself a threat at the 15- to 17-foot jumper, and Smith laid down the gauntlet: "He's really got to pick it up offensively. We need him to make the open shot, especially if teams keep daring him to take it."

Daniels said he worked tirelessly on his jumper this summer. Heck, he earned a four-game suspension from the NCAA for playing too much summer basketball.

When he became eligible against North Carolina, he buried all four shots he took, including a 3-pointer.

Daniels had attempted nine or more shots just twice, and neither was against a significant opponent: Kentucky State last season and High Point two seasons ago. But in the last three weeks, he has taken nine shots against Michigan State, eight against Louisville, a career-high 15 against Tennessee State and nine against Alcorn State.

Daniels is shooting 54 percent and has more than twice as many assists (21) as turnovers (10).

"I just have more confidence in my shot right now, and (the coaches) want me to shoot it if I'm open," Daniels said. "I'm still very patient on offense. But if it takes 10 to 15 shots from me for us to win, I'll take them."

Smith said Daniels' greatest improvements have been mental, and Daniels agrees.

"In the past, when I would get in a slump, I would talk bad to myself," he said. "Now, I just move on. That (mental makeup) is the most important part of the game."

Daniels said Smith surprised him by starting him against Indiana on Dec.21, with no promise it would last. But Smith has lauded Daniels' energetic work in UK's pressure defense.

"Tubby's turning him loose a little bit more," Andrews said.

The last Greater Cincinnatian to play at UK was another Princeton grad, Todd Svoboda, who walked on in the 1992-93 season. But it had been since 1985, when Simon Kenton's Troy McKinley finished his Wildcats career, that anyone locally played on scholarship there.

"It's neat coming back to play in front of my friends and family," Daniels said. "I'm just going to try to play hard and help us get a win."

E-mail nschmidt@enquirer.com