By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Perry Clark put the full-court press on Robert Hite last summer. While bending his budding star's ear, the University of Miami coach recruited Hite's mother and stepfather - as well as his father and stepmother - to follow suit.

Miami's Robert Hite (right) is a co-captain who leads the team in scoring. (AP photo)

"I talked to them about my belief in him, why I was pushing him, how good he could be," Clark said of Hite, a Winton Woods graduate. "They really reinforced that. When he came back, I could see a change in his attitude."

For the coup de grace, Clark named the sophomore a co-captain. The message: Step up, kid.

Hite's response has been dazzling.

The 6-foot-2 shooting guard has a team-high 17.3-point scoring average, a 10-point improvement over last season. He's shooting 56.1 percent (up from 39.6), including 42.4 percent on 3-pointers (up from 32.3). He leads the team in steals with 42 and dunks with 22, shoots 83.9 percent at the line and averages 3.7 rebounds.

"I knew I could step up and take this role on," Hite said. "I was ready for it. I was looking forward to it."

This isn't an ego trip run wild; it's the opposite. Hite won't force a shot, so a player whose 3-point percentage would rank fifth in the Big East doesn't qualify because he has two fewer baskets (36-of-85) than the required two-per-game minimum.

Though his average ranks 10th in the conference, Hite is one of the Big East's most efficient scorers. His 1.53 points per shot (328 points/214 field-goal attempts) ranks third among the league's scoring leaders, behind two post players: Notre Dame's Torin Francis (1.63) and Providence's Ryan Gomes (1.59).

Hite ranks second in the Big East in field goal shooting, second in steals and seventh in free throw shooting.

"Rob has always been a team-oriented person," said David Lumpkin, his Winton Woods coach. "He would (tick) me off sometimes - 'Rob, it's five minutes into the first quarter, and you haven't taken a shot.' But he would just let the game come to him."

Hite set Winton Woods' career scoring mark and led his teams to a 59-1 regular-season record his last three seasons. He was named Ohio co-player of the year as a senior.

Yet the kid with the 39-inch vertical leap, who was shooting 49 percent from 3-point range that season, didn't lead his team in scoring. He averaged 18 points a game, while C.J. Anderson - now at Laurinburg (N.C.) Prep and soon to be a Division I signee - averaged nearly 20.

The Warriors had two other D-I signees in DeForrest Riley-Smith, who has transferred from Penn State to Xavier, and Byron Fields, who's at Wofford.

"The high school team he was on had a lot of good players, so they couldn't just feature one guy," Clark said. "He's never been catered to that way, and that has helped him be a better college player."

Hite was recruited hard by Xavier but said he wanted to go away to school. He said that as a freshman he didn't want to step on anyone's toes, even though Clark prodded him to be more aggressive.

This season, Hite was ready.

"He's come to understand his time is now," Clark said. "He's playing with that aggressiveness and urgency."

Hite had 27 points against North Carolina Jan. 7, and 26 on just 10 shots (9-of-10, including 5-of-5 on 3-pointers) against Virginia Tech Jan. 17. Miami plays at Notre Dame tonight.

This season the Hurricanes are 13-6, up from 11-17 last season. Among their losses are a double-overtime defeat to Pittsburgh and two one-point setbacks.

"We've got good chemistry, and I'm feeling more confident and comfortable with everything," Hite said. "I just want to keep doing what I'm doing."

Strength in his numbers

Year	GP	GS	AP	AR
2002-03	28	18	7.3	3.6
2003-04	19	18	17.3	3.7

GP-Games played; GS-Games started; AP-Average points; AR-Average rebounds.

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E-mail nschmidt@enquirer.com