Did Dawn Staley Just Call Out and Challenge Her Own Players? How Chloe Kitts Responded to the Challenge Will Surprise Everyone!

South Carolina forward Chloe Kitts has added a three-point shot to her game.
Kitts has worked on her three-point shooting with coaches and is gaining confidence in game situations.
Coach Dawn Staley challenged her post players to shoot more threes, especially with the injury to Ashlyn Watkins.

ATHENS, Ga. — When Ashlyn Watkins went down with an injury on Jan. 5, coach Dawn Staley challenged her South Carolina women’s basketball post players.

It wasn’t a challenge to rebound more despite Watkins being a rebound machine and not to just score more layups.

She wanted someone to start picking and choosing some opportunities to take 3-point shots to get better spacing on the floor.

“Chloe was the only one that’s taken me up on it,” Staley said of 6-foot-2 forward Chloe Kitts, who had her third consecutive game with a made 3-pointer on Thursday in South Carolina’s 74-42 win over Georgia.

Last season as a sophomore, Kitts took just two 3-point attempts, finishing the 38-game season with one made 3-pointer.

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Kitts admitted the lack of a desire to shoot from behind the arc was pure hesitation and just “overthinking.” Before and since Staley challenged her post players, Kitts was taking extra 3-point shots before and after practice.

“I realized the more I shoot them in practice, the more they translate to the game,” Kitts said.

The South Carolina coaching staff pointed out exact moments in film where Kitts hung around in what Kitts described as “no mans land.” She realized with better spacing, she’d be the one wide open for the 3-point shot.

Against Georgia, it was a prime example. Early in the shot clock with 6:18 in the third quarter, Kitts caught the ball from Te-Hina Paopao and if she dribbled inside she would’ve clogged the paint. Her defender didn’t come out to guard her so she hit the 3-pointer in rhythm.

“She’s strong enough to (shoot) them now, she wasn’t strong enough last year,” Staley said. “That just took maturity, time and more work in the weight room.”

Georgia’s 3-2 zone presented the perfect opportunity for a player like Kitts to thrive beyond just hitting another 3-pointer. She’s proven herself as a strong, dominant post who sees the floor well. So when the Bulldogs (9-15, 1-9) forced inside then outside passes, Kitts got a lot of looks. She finished with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field to go with seven rebounds.

Kitts led the team with the highest plus-minus with plus-22 in 22 minutes played.

What makes the Gamecocks so hard to guard has been their depth, both with numbers but also with no drop off in talent. A starter like Kitts developing a new aspect of her game this late in the season could be the difference maker in games against No. 6 Texas on Sunday (2 p.m. ET, ESPN), No. 5 UConn on Feb 16 and No. 11 Kentucky on March 2.

In South Carolina’s 83-66 win over Auburn on Feb. 2, The Tigers did a nice job forcing South Carolina to make a second, third, and fourth pass on offense. It’s no longer a liability or a bad option if a possession ends with Kitts shooting from outside.

“My coaches and teammates have been telling me to shoot it all year, I’m just finally starting to shoot it now,” Kitts said.